of North American origin intermingle with stocks of Asian 

 origin. If such areas are found, then the Commission shall 

 determine a line or lines which best divide salmon of Asian 

 and North American origins and whether such line or lines 

 more equitably divide such salmon than the provisional lines 

 specified in the Protocol. 



At the time the Convention was negotiated, the United 

 States had little factual knowledge on high- seas naigrations 

 and distribution of salmon. It was generally believed that 

 salmon spent their marine existence in waters, overlying 

 the continental shelf. This scarcity of information made 

 agreement on the location of a line defining the eastern limit 

 of Japanese salmon fishing very difficult. At one point the 

 conference caime very close to breakdown because views 

 regarding location of such a line were widely different. 

 The Protocol represents a compromise which saved the 

 conference from failure. At the time the compromise was 

 agreed upon, we had no information concerning the extensive 

 intermingling of Asian and North American salmon. It was 

 thought that if any movement of North American salmon 

 across the provisional line did occur, it was not substantial. 

 Our present knowledge is derived entirely from the Com- 

 mission*s research program of the last few years. 



Why was the Convention Drafted 

 in Its Present Form ? 



I believe almost any of us could propose changes in the 

 Convention which wovild make it much more to our liking. 

 In fact, I have heard or read many proposals for such 

 changes from sincere and well-intentioned people. Some of 

 these proposals appear so reasonable and simple that the 

 proposer finds it difficult to understand why they were not 

 included in the first place and, failing that, why they should 

 not be adopted now. Perhaps I can help to make clear why 

 this is not so simple as it looks. These are some of the 

 considerations: 



1. Agreements between sovereign powers are based on 

 mutual interests and persuasion, not dictation. A country's 

 representatives sign and ratify a treaty only when they 

 consider that it is in their country's interest to do so, 



2. In endeavoring to give protection to our North Pacific 

 fisheries, it was necessary to reconcile our claim to special 

 interest in these fisheries with the general international 

 legal concept of freedom of the seas. To meet the special 

 situation prevailing in this area, the principle known as 

 abstention avoided any assertion of ownership or jurisdiction 

 over any area of the high seas, at the same time that it did 

 assert that nationals of other countries should abstain from 

 catching these special stocks which came within the scope 

 of the principle. 



Our salmon and halibut fisheries were developed exclu- 

 sively by our own and Canadian fishermen. Huge sums were 



