FISHERIES. 233 



any part of an area of the open sea, two tlionsand ScotcL. ironir.g 



'^ ^ _ ^ _ ' ^ FislieryAct. 



seven hundred square miles in extent, lying- oft" 

 the northeast coast of Scotland, within a line 

 drawn from Duncansby Head, in Caithness, to 

 Rattray Point, in Aberdeenshire." The act is 

 not confined in its operations to British subjects, 

 but provides that "any person" offending against 

 its provisions shall be liable to a fine and the 

 forfeiture of his fishing apparatus. 



The legislation of several of the colonies of '^(■■■^y^i^^^^ov\eso{ 

 Great Britain also abounds in instances of the 

 exercise of extraterritorial jurisdiction upon the 

 high seas for the protection of different species 

 of marine life. The pearl fisheries of Ceylon 

 extend into the open sea for a distance of twenty 

 miles, and they have been the subject of a series 

 of ordinances and regulations from 1811 down 

 to the present time, winch for certain purposes 

 define the limit of marine jurisdiction to be twelve 

 miles, and for other purposes a distance which 

 varies from six to twenty miles.^ 



The pearl fisheries of Queensland and Western Pearl fisiierics oi 



Australia. 



Australia were, in the years 1888 and 1889, 

 made the subject of regulation by two statutes 

 enacted b}^ the Federal Council of Australasia.^ 

 These statutes extended the local regulations of 



1 Ordinances of Ceylon, and map, Vol. I, p. 461. 



^ Statutes of Australasia, and map, Vol. I, ]). 467. _ 



271G ;^o 



