INTERNATIONAL REGULATIONS OF THE FISHERIES ON THE 
HIGH SEAS. 
& 
By CHARLES EDWARD FRYER, I. S.0., F. L. S., 
Superintending Inspector, Board of Agriculture and Fisheries, London, England. 
ad 
PRIVILEGES AND CLAIMS OF THE FLAG. 
The same principle by which the protection of the flag of its proper nation- 
ality is afforded to a vessel on the high seas beyond the territorial limits of its 
country requires that vessel to comply with all the laws of its country, whether 
applicable within or beyond territorial limits, and it is as much within the 
competence of any power to impose restrictions on fishing operations carried 
on by vessels flying its flag in any part of the world, outside of the territorial 
waters of other nations, as it is to regulate the fisheries within its own rivers 
and elsewhere within its domain. But however admirable or necessary such 
restrictions might be, they would necessarily apply only to the subjects or citi- 
zens of the particular State that enacted them, and could not be enforced against 
aliens except by consent. In cases, therefore, where the fisheries prosecuted in 
extraterritorial waters were shared in by fishermen of other states, great hard- 
ship would result unless by international agreement the same regulations were 
made applicable to all fishermen alike, of whatever nationality. 
NECESSITY FOR COMBINED ACTION. 
The hardship thus involved recently received curious illustration in the 
effects of a self-denying ordinance which the herring and mackerel fishermen of 
the county of Cornwall (England) imposed upon themselves in the matter of 
Sunday fishing. For various reasons, partly religious, partly social, partly 
economic, the Cornishmen agreed to regard Sunday as a day of rest from fishing 
and to discountenance not only fishing operations, but also the task of depar- 
ture for or return to the fishing grounds on the Sabbath day. 
This understanding was loyally adhered to until the advent of large numbers 
of competitors from east-coast ports, who, making Cornish harbors their tempo- 
rary headquarters, sought to gather in the harvest of the sea as quickly as pos- 
sible. Not being actuated by the same scruples as the west-country folk, and 
not being in any way parties to the understanding, the newcomers did not feel 
93 
