i9o83 Fishery Problems 



North Channel; (ii) St. Mary's River and Lake Superior; 

 (12) Rainy River and Rainy Lake; (13) Lake of the Woods; 

 (14) the Straits of Juan de Fuca, those parts of Washington 

 Sound, the Gulf of Georgia and Puget Sound, lying between 

 the parallels of 48° 10' and 49° 20'; (15) and such other 

 contiguous waters as may be recommended by the Inter- 

 national Fisheries Commission and approved by the two 

 governments. 



As a foundation for our first canvass we had the Rathh 

 admirable report on the fisheries of Eastport, the """'^ 

 Great Lakes, and Puget Sound, prepared some years 

 before by Richard Rathbun with a view to future 

 joint action on the part of the governments involved. 

 Concerning questions of states' rights as contrasted 

 with national jurisdiction, Mr. Chandler P. Anderson, 

 counselor of the State Department, furnished us with 

 an excellent memoir already prepared by himself, 

 which, he said, represented the views of Mr. Root and 

 the State Department. To its opinions we accord- 

 ingly gave rigid adherence. 



Making Rathbun's report a point of departure, we 

 first drew up a rough draft of tentative statutes as a 

 basis^ for discussion and modification, meanwhile 

 starting from Eastport, Maine, for a tour along the 

 boundary to the Pacific. Some of the problems, 

 especially those relating to Lake Erie and Puget 

 Sound, we found to be by no means simple, and solu- 

 tions wholly satisfactory to both sides were quite out 

 of the question. We therefore adopted the policy of 

 considering the future of the fisheries as paramount, 

 thus setting aside all questions of advantage to either 

 nation and serving as a truly international commis- Truly 

 sion. Certain unforeseen circumstances, however '"'''" 

 interfered with our final success, as I shall presently "'"""^ 

 explain. 



C 257 3 



'Mn 5 



