166 ARGUMENT OF THE UNITED STATES. 



By a law enacted in Italy in 1877, and a decree issued in 1892, licenses 

 are required of all vessels operating on the coral banks lying off the 

 coast of Sardinia, at distances which vary from 3 to 15 miles from land. 



Under the regulations there prescribed, the discoverer of a new coral 

 bed at any point is entitled to take possession of it, and to identify his 

 discovery by means of a buoy suitably marked, which confers upon 

 him the privilege of working the bank as a private monopoly for two 

 years. 



Off the southwestern coast of Sicily there are three coral reefs, situ- 

 ated, respectively, at a distance of 14, 31, and 32 miles from shore. 



The Italian law of 1877 and decree of 1882 extend to these, subject 

 to the modifications introduced by the three following decrees. (Official 

 Pamphlets, No. 3701), series 2 of March 4, 1877 ; No. 1090, series 3, No- 

 vember 13, 1882.) 



The decree of 1877 prohibited all fishing on the nearest of the three 

 banks, viz, that situated 11 miles from shore, and provided that the 

 other two should be divided into sections which should be fished in 

 rotation. 



The decree of 18S8 prohibited all operations on all three banks until 

 further notice, in order that the coral, which was then almost ex- 

 hausted, might be given time to renew itself. 



The decree of 1892 provided that fishing might begin again under 

 the original regulations after the close of the fishing season of 1893. 

 (Case of the United States, App., Vol. I, p. 470). 



Oyster beds in the open sea have been made the subject of similar 

 legislation in Great Britain. 



A section of the British " Sea Fisheries Act," 18G8, conferred upon 

 the Crown the right by orders in council to restrict and regulate dredg- 

 ing for oysters on any oyster bed within twenty miles of a straight line 

 drawn between two specified points on the coast of Ireland, "outside 

 of the exclusive fishery limits of the British Isles." The act extends to 

 all boats specified in the order, whether British or foreign (31 and 32 

 Vict., eh. 45, sec. 07; Case of the United States, App., Vol. I, p. 457). 



The same as to herring fisheries: " The Serving Fishery (Scotland) 

 Act. 1889" conferred authority upon the Fishery Board of Scotland, to 

 prohibit certain modes of fishing known as beam trawling and other 

 trawling, within an area of the open sea on the northeastern coast of 

 Scotland over 2,000 square miles in extent, of which the most remote 

 point is about 30 marine miles from land (52 and 53 Vict., ch. 23, sees. 

 6, 7 ; Case of the United States, App., Vol. I, p. 458). 



