186 American Fisheries Society 



to remove the uncertainty. By this action of the British House of 

 Commons, jurisdiction was declared to extend, according to 

 International Law, to three miles from the coast line. The 

 United States had taken like definite action long before. Indeed, 

 it was no other than George Washington who enforced authority 

 over waters extending to one marine league, or three geographical 

 miles, from the coast of the United States, and he added that this 

 did not fix the distance to which the United States might ulti- 

 mately extend its authority. 



In conclusion, it is only necessary to point out (1) the three- 

 mile limit has not been universally adopted or recognized.* 

 (2) Ancient writers and modern writers who have been regarded 

 as authorities have specified more extended limits. (3) Britain 

 and the United States, though they have both specified three 

 miles as the limit in various Conventions and Treaties, have them- 

 selves claimed more, when occasion required, and have legally 

 justified their claim. In Britain, until recently the three-mile 

 limit had practically no legal force because it had no statutory 

 authorization. (4) Important legal institutions and Congresses 

 have favored a greater limit than three miles. It is necessary 

 only to refer to the International Law Association which took 

 action at its annual meeting in 1895, the International Fisheries 

 Conference, Bergen, 1898, the French International Law 

 Institution, and other important bodies, all of which have urged 

 that a greater limit than three miles should be adopted, and in 

 many cases a ten-mile limit was specified. (5) For the object of 

 fishery conservation a larger limit is very necessary. The spawning 

 grounds for fish, and nurseries for the young, require to be pro- 

 tected, and in a vast number of instances these are beyond the 

 three-mile limits; while important industries such as the whale, 

 mackerel, halibut, and other fisheries, have been threatened 

 with total extinction, and require closed areas or sanctuaries 

 against the intrusion of outsiders, so that when special reserves 

 are established they can be effectively protected by the nation 

 having jurisdiction, and a three-mile limit is usually not enough. 



* M. Luis M. Drago (op. cit. p. 37) candidly admits that "there does 

 not seem to be any general rule of international law, which may be consid- 

 ered final, even in what refers to the marginal belt of international waters." 



