BAIT-FISH EXPANSION AND CONFLICT 233 



rejected by the American Senate. For the whole period 

 between 1890 and 1904, Newfoundlanders were licensed to 

 sell, and Americans were allowed to buy bait freely off the 

 coasts of Newfoundland. In 1905 there was an armed truce, 

 during which Newfoundland passed the Foreign Fishing- 

 Vessels Act, in order to enforce the anti-bait Acts which were 

 consolidated in 1889. 



The Act of 1905 was little more than the re-enactment of New anti- 

 an Act which was passed in 1893, but was never enforced ^ere * 

 and provided (a) that a foreign fishing-ship within the three- passed, 

 mile limit might be boarded, brought into port, and searched; I 95' I 9 > 

 and (<) if it had bought bait within, or hired Newfoundland 

 sailors within (or without) the jurisdiction, it incurred confis- 

 cation ; and (<;) the possession of bait-fish w r as prima facie 

 evidence that they had been purchased illegally. The words 

 in brackets were added in 1906 but did not become law. 



This Act poured oil upon the smouldering flames. In which 

 1905 the principal winter fishery for herring was for con- r r 'j^ oll a[ 

 sumption, not for bait, and was situated in the Bay of Islands, the Hay of 

 where herring were caught during nine months in the year. 

 The glory had departed from Fortune Bay. The herring of 

 the Bay of Islands came, like the St. Malo men of old time, 

 from the north through Belle Isle Strait, and were not the 

 herring that visited St. George Bay in the spring. It was 

 said, too, that they were changeful in their habits, and had 

 been driven from adjacent creeks by American purse-seines. 

 In December, 1906, there were 65 American herring-ships, 

 on which 780 Newfoundlanders, who had been engaged 

 outside the three-mile limit, \vere serving for cash. Canadians 

 were also present in the Bay of Islands, where the Canadian 

 fleet was second only to the American fleet, numbered 27 

 ships, and bought bait from 488 Newfoundlanders. Local 

 craft, amongst which the St. George Bay herring-fleet was 

 conspicuous, employed 577, and the shore fishery 180 New- 

 foundlanders. The Canadians had an ( establishment ' on 



