American Fisheries Society 413 



A very interesting and important international point, 

 that has caused much friction between Canada and the 

 United States, is the proper way in which to measure the 

 three-mile limit with respect to bays. Question 5 was 

 therefore one of the major subjects coming before the 

 tribunal, and was given much attention by counsel and 

 court. The principle laid down in the award is that the 

 three marine miles are to be measured from 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 

 that at all other places the three marine miles are to be meas- 

 ured 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 sus- 

 tained ; but the contention of the United States — that in the 

 absence of other expressed and acknowledged claims of 

 sovereignty bays are to be regarded as indentations which 

 are six miles or less in width at their mouth or are to be 

 regarded as beginning where the sides of indentations ap- 

 proach within six miles of each other — was likewise over- 

 ruled. 



Question 6, submitted at the request of the Newfound- 

 land government and addressed to the vital point whether 

 United States fishermen really were entitled to the liberties 

 they had always enjoyed of taking fish in the bays, harbors, 

 and creeks on the coasts of Newfoundland and on the 

 Magdalen Islands, was readily answered by the court in 

 the affirmative. This decision is very important because of 

 the fact that the Newfoundland 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 

 fish taken by American vessels in the bays of that colony 

 during the past ninety years. 



The final question took cognizance of certain practices 

 that had grown up in recent years on the coast of New- 

 foundland. The court held that United States fishing ves- 

 sels when resorting to the treaty coasts for the purpose of 



