1S4 American Fisheries Society 



of Greenland. The Behring Sea Tribunal in 1893, established a 

 60-mile zone for fur-seals. A similar zone of 10 miles in the north 

 part of Behring Sea, and a 30-mile zone around Robbins Islands 

 were determined by an agreement between the United States, 

 Russia and Great Britain. Delaware Bay, which is 20 miles wide 

 at the entrance and 30 miles across inside, and 70 miles long, 

 is recognized as within the territorial jurisdiction of the United 

 States, while Chesapeake Bay, which is 12 miles wide at the 

 entrance expands into a large arm of the sea, 270 miles long, and 

 it is entirely closed to all foreign fishermen. Thus, when the 

 fishery interests of a nation require it, the so-called three-mile 

 limit has been repeatedly set aside. 



There has been a strong feeling in Canada that the waters 

 inside Queen Charlotte Islands, on the Pacific coast, are really 

 territorial, and so long ago as 1896 Canadian patrol vessels warned 

 foreign fishermen against operating in those waters. Captain 

 Walbran of the D. G. S. "Quadra" reported to the Department 

 when this warning had been issued that his coming had been made 

 known to many United States' vessels that had been fishing there, 

 and he found only one operating, which left at once for Alaskan 

 waters after being reminded of the warning, and, said the Captain, 

 "not another vessel appeared in those waters for five weeks," 

 during which he continued his patrol. The fishermen, in other 

 words, recognized that they were fishing in Canadian waters, and 

 the area is certainly almost entirely enclosed on three sides by 

 Dominion territory. The waters at one point are 75 miles wide, 

 but the mere width is not conclusive, as the entrance to Long 

 Island Sound is 10 miles, and to Delaware Bay is nearly 30 miles 

 wide. By the Alaska Treaty the northern end of Hecate Straits, 

 or rather Dixon Entrance is territorial, and in Juan de Fuca Straits, 

 in the south, the waters north of the boundary line are also terri- 

 torial, and it is difficult to see how any waters between these two 

 boundary lines can be claimed to be "high seas. " 



VALIDITY OF LARGER LIMITS THAN THREE MILES. 



It may be said that the larger limits which have been referred 

 to are special cases, which are exceptions to the general rule. 

 This is not so. Quite recently on the Scottish coast a Norwegian 

 steam fishing vessel, the "Niobe," was seized when trawling 



