330 NEW ENGLAND FISHERIES 



its being made a precedent for any future arrangement. 



The fishery provisions of the Treaty of Washington came 

 to an end the first of July, 1885, but, with the hope of 

 negotiating a new treaty, the American fishermen were per- 

 mitted, by mutual consent of the two countries, to fish 

 in British waters during that summer. Again, the basis 

 of the fisheries arrangements was thrown back upon the 

 convention of 1818. 



In his annual message to Congress in December, 1885, 

 President Cleveland recommended that provision should 

 be made for the appointment of a joint commission to ar- 

 range for a new fisheries treaty. This recommendation 

 was voted upon adversely by the Senate on April 13, 1886, 

 petitions against such action having been received from 

 many New England fishermen who believed that their 

 interests could be best served under the provisions of the 

 convention of 1818, then in force. 



Immediately, however, new trouble arose between the 

 Canadian officials and the American fishermen, and seizures 

 of American schooners were made. The seizures led to 

 controversies between the two governments for a period 

 of two years over new issues set forth by Canadian officials. 

 The first case of the seizure of an American vessel in 1886 

 was that of the David J. Adams, in Digby Harbor, May 



for this paltry cargo our Government paid Great Britain $458,333, 

 that being the yearly average of the Halifax award for the twelve 

 years. For the ten years from 1873 to 1882 the total catch of 

 the American fleet within the three-mile limit was 78,827 barrels 

 of mackerel valued at $598,429. For the twelve years that these 

 privileges were in force the United States paid about eight times 

 as much for the privilege as our fishermen secured from it, be- 

 sides remitting the duty, at one cent per pound, on millions of 

 pounds of Canadian fish imported into this country. Little wonder 

 that the United States gave notice, as soon as the treaty provisions 

 allowed, of the abrogation of the treaty in so far as it affected 

 the fisheries interests. 



