58 REPORT OF THE COMMISSIONER OF FISHERIES. 



remain in such bays or harbors for a longer period than 48 hours 

 without reporting, either in person or by telegraph, at a customhouse 

 or to a customs official, if reasonably convenient opportunity therefor 

 is afforded, and if such course is thought necessary by Great Britain 

 or the colonial governments. 



A very interesting and important international question that has 

 caused considerable friction between the United States and Canada 

 is the proper way in which to measure the 3-mile limit Avith respect 

 to bays. Question 5 was therefore one of the major subjects coming 

 before the tribunal. The general principle laid down in the award 

 is that the 3 marine miles are to be measured in a straight line drawn 

 across the body of water at the place where it ceases to have the 

 configuration and characteristics of a bay, and at all other places 

 the 3 marine miles are to be measured following the sinuosities of 

 the coast. The extreme position taken by Great Britain, that bays 

 are to be defined by lines drawn from headland to headland, was not 

 sustained, but the contention of the United States, that in the ab- 

 sence of other expressed and acknowledged claims of sovereignty 

 bays are to be regarded as indentations which are G miles or less in 

 width at their mouth, or are to be regarded as beginning where the 

 sides of the indentations approach within 6 miles of each other, was 

 likewise overruled. For certain bays (for example, Chaleur, Mira- 

 michi, Egmont, and St. Ann's, in Canada, and Fortune, in New- 

 foundland) "where the configuration of the coast and the local 

 climatic conditions are such that foreign fishermen when within the 

 geographical headlands might reasonably and bona fide believe them- 

 selves on the high seas," the limits of exclusion are specifically de- 

 fined in the award ; for all other bays " the limits of exclusion shall 

 be drawn 3 miles seaward from a straight line across the bay in the 

 part nearest the entrance, at the first point where the width does not 

 exceed 10 miles." 



Question 6, submitted at the request of the Newfoundland Gov- 

 ernment and addressed to the vital point whether American fisher- 

 men are entitled to the liberties they have always enjoyed of taking 

 fish in the baj^s, harbors, and creeks on the coasts of Newfoundland 

 and on the Magdalen Islands, was decided in favor of the United 

 States. This decision is very important, for the reason that the New- 

 foundland Government, in the event of an award favorable to its 

 contention, was preparing to present a claim for large damages for 

 the value of all the cod, halibut, herring, etc., taken b}^ American 

 vessels in the bays of that colony during the past 90 years. 



The final question took cognizance of certain practices of American 

 fishermen on the coast of Newfoundland. The tribunal hold that in- 

 habitants of the United States, when resorting to the treat}^ coasts 

 for the purpose of exercising their fishing rights, may, when duly 



