INTERNATIONAL REGULATIONS OF FISHERIES ON THE HIGH SEAS. 97 
OYSTER FISHERIES OF THE ENGLISH CHANNEL. 
The earliest instance of an international agreement for the enforcement of 
a regulation directed toward the protection of seafish from overfishing occurs 
in connection with a convention entered into between the United Kingdom and 
France in 1839, under which regulations were mutually agreed upon for the better 
ordering of the fisheries carried on by the subjects of those two states in the 
English Channel. Here, again, the object of the solicitude of the two powers 
was not a “‘fish”’ in the true sense of the word, but a mollusk, namely, the oyster. 
Here, also, the condition precedent existed that it was comparatively easy to 
secure adequate evidence of the necessity for some protection against overfishing. 
This protection took the form of a regulation forbidding the removal of oysters 
measuring less than 21% inches across the shell, and of a close season of four 
months, during which oyster-dredging was forbidden in the extraterritorial waters 
of the English Channel, while, later on, it was provided that oyster dredges 
should not be carried on board the fishing boats of either country during the pro- 
hibited period, unless kept duly secured by seals affixed by a competent official. 
The dates fixed for the close season, however, were not altogether the most 
appropriate, and, by a later convention arranged in 1867 between the two coun- 
tries, it was agreed that the period should be altered. This latter convention 
was never ratified by France, and, although England took the necessary steps to 
give effect to it, it has never been fully put into operation, but the close season 
for oysters as then determined is maintained by special agreement renewed 
from year to year. 
OTHER ANGLO-FRENCH CONVENTIONS. 
By far the greater part of both these Anglo-French conventions, as well as 
the whole of the more recent conventions relating to the fisheries of the North Sea, 
deals with the several points included under the heads—other than the protection 
of fish—into which the objects in view have been divided; and, although inter- 
national regulations with respect to overfishing are rare, there are numerous 
instances in which the regulations have dealt with the protection of the fishermen 
themselves in either their persons, their morals, or their property. 
Both the Anglo-French conventions above referred to made provision for 
identification marks being affixed to fishing boats operating within the English 
Channel, for keeping certain classes of fishermen as far as practicable apart, so as 
to minimize the risk of damage or conflict, and for establishing a system of 
international sea-police for the proper enforcement of the regulations. The 
great development of fishing operations in the last few years has, apart from 
other considerations into which it is unnecessary to enter here, rendered obsolete 
the greater part of the regulations thus agreed upon, and negotiations are now in 
progress between the two countries for a new convention on wider and more 
modern lines and more fitted to existing conditions. 
B. B. F. 1908—7 
