INTERNATIONAL REGULATIONS OF FISHERIES ON THE HIGH SEAS. 113 
ANGLO-FRENCH CONVENTION OF 1839. 
The first successful attempt at international concert in regulating the fish- 
eries on any part of the high seas resulted in the convention of August 2, 1839, 
between France and Great Britain, which applied to ‘the seas lying between the 
coasts of the two countries.’ This convention had its origin in the many dis- 
putes which had arisen with respect to the limits in which the subjects of each 
of the two kingdoms were permitted to fish, and especially in contentions which 
arose in 1837 and 1838 between French fishermen and those of the channel islands. 
The principal objects of this convention were stated to be: (1) To define the limits 
of territorial jurisdiction and exclusive fishery over the marginal waters of the 
two countries; (2) to provide regulations for preventing collisions among fisher- 
men in the seas lying between the coasts of Great Britain and France; and (3) 
to settle the limits of the oyster fisheries lying between the Channel Islands and 
France. 
By the ninth article of this convention, the right of fishing within 3 miles 
from low-water mark along the coasts of each country, respectively, was exclu- 
sively reserved to the subjects of that country; and in bays not more than 1o 
miles in width, the distance of 3 miles was measured from a straight line connect- 
ing the two headlands. The first of these provisions was in strict accordance with 
international law as then recognized. The second provision was novel, but a 
practical reason suggested it. It was considered that as 3 miles on each side of 
a bay less than 10 miles in width were unquestionably territorial, the interests 
of the proprietary nation within the bay were sufficient to determine its terri- 
toriality. This is by far the most important and lasting of all the provisions of 
the convention. 
The eleventh article provided that with a view to preventing collisions which 
had occurred so frequently between the fishermen of France and those of Great 
Britain on the seas lying between the two countries, and to carry out other pur- 
poses of the convention, a commission should be appointed to prepare a set of 
regulations for guidance of those fishermen in the seas above noted. 
In pursuance of the provisions of this article and of the convention generally, 
a code of regulations was prepared and confirmed by the respective Governments 
in June, 1843. The 89 articles agreed upon embrace many other subjects than 
those contemplated by the convention, and they constitute by far the most elabo- 
rate and complicated of all fishery laws applied to any part of the high seas. 
They are given in full in Appendix A (page 151 of this paper), and in this place 
we have room for only a brief résumé. 
Articles 1 to 5 of the regulations define the limits within which the right 
of fishery is exclusively reserved to the subjects of the two countries, respec- 
tively. Articles 6 to 15 provide for the numbering, lettering, and licensing of 
all British and French fishing boats, and for the numbering and lettering of all 
buoys, floats, nets, and other implements of fishery. Articles 16 to 26 regulate 
B. B. F. 1908—8 
