INTERNATIONAL REGULATIONS OF FISHERIES ON THE HIGH SEAS. 167 
The same rule shall apply with regard to offences against, and contraventions of, the present Con- 
vention. 
Art. XXXVII. The proceedings and trial in cases of infraction of the provisions of the present 
convention shall take place as summarily as the laws and regulations in force will permit. 
Art. XXXVIII. The present Convention shall be ratified. The ratifications shall be exchanged - 
at The Hague as soon as possible. 
Art. XXXIX. The present Convention shall be brought into force from and after a day to be agreed 
upon by the high contracting parties. 
The Convention shall continue in operation for five years from the above day; and unless one of 
the high contracting parties shall, twelve months before the expiration of the said period of five years, 
give notice of intention to terminate its operation, shall continue in force one year longer, and so on 
from year to year. If, however, one of the Signatory Powers should give notice to terminate the con- 
vention, the same shall be maintained between the other contracting parties, unless they give a similar 
notice. 
ADDITIONAL ARTICLE. The Government of His Majesty the King of Sweden and Norway may 
adhere to the present Convention, for Sweden and for Norway, either jointly or separately. 
This adhesion shall be notified to the Netherlands Government, and by it to the other Signatory 
Powers. 
In witness whereof the Plenipotentiaries have signed the present convention and have affixed 
thereto their seals. 
Done at The Hague, in six copies, the 6th of May, 1882. 
APPENDIX D. 
Anglo-Belgian Declaration respecting the North Sea Fisheries. 
ARTICLE I. Whenever a complaint involving a claim for damages shall be preferred by a fisherman 
of one of the two countries against a fisherman of the other country, it shall be referred for preliminary 
inquiry—in Belgium, to a Commission composed of at least two officers appointed by the Minister of 
Railways, Posts, and Telegraphs; in the United Kingdom, to a Commission also composed of at least 
two officers appointed by the Board of Trade; these officers shall hold their inquiry at the place where 
the allegations of the complainants can most easily be verified. 
Arr. II. No complaint shall be transmitted either to the British or to the Belgian Government, 
as the case may be, unless: 
1. The commission has recognised it as well founded. 
2. Such fishermen as are specified by the commission engage themselves to appear in person 
in case they should be summoned to give evidence. 
Arr. III. The complaints must be accompanied by— 
1. A Report from the Commission of Inquiry. 
2. A certificate from this Commission, verifying the ownership of the lost or injured fishing 
gear. 
3. A certificate of an expert nominated (as the case may be), in the United Kingdom by the 
Board of Trade, in Belgium by the Minister of Railways, Posts, and Telegraphs, and giving an 
estimate of the damages in money value. 
These certificates must be forwarded through the proper diplomatic channel, and shall be received 
as evidence unless the contrary is proved. 
‘Arr. IV. When a fisherman fouls or otherwise interferes with the fishing gear of another fisherman 
he shall take all necessary measures for reducing to a minimum the injuries which may result to the 
gear or to the boat of the other fisherman. 
Art. V. In the Kingdom of Belgium the Tribunal which has cognizance of an infraction of the 
North Sea Fisheries Convention of the 6th May, 1882, or of Article 4 of the present Declaration, shall be 
empowered to award damages for injury to person or property at the request of the injured party 
and at the suit of the Official Prosecutor. 
