668 THE SOVEREIGNTY OF THE SEA 



London and Lisbon Governments, they have not been ordered 

 out of them, and still continue their trawling. Both in Spain 

 and Portugal meetings have been held with reference to the 

 territorial waters, at which resolutions were passed calling for 

 an international arrangement for the extension of the limits to 

 ten or twelve miles; and some unpleasant encounters have 

 occurred between the local and foreign fishermen. On these 

 coasts, however, a limit so extensive would largely prevent 

 foreigners from fishing, owing to the great depth of the water 

 at such distances from the shore. On the other hand, it is 

 argued that as the available fishing-ground is so narrow and 

 small, there is all the more reason why it should be protected 

 from the destructive methods of fishing pursued by the foreign 

 vessels, and preserved as far as possible for the inhabitants of 

 the coast. 1 Quite recently, it appears, the Portuguese Govern- 

 ment have regularised their position with regard to foreign 

 trawlers and foreign fishermen generally, by passing a law 

 forbidding them to fish, under severe penalties, within a zone 

 of three sea miles from the shore. They have thus accepted 

 the inevitable, in view of the pressure applied by at least one 

 of the great maritime Powers. With regard to bays, however, 

 the limit specified in the fishery conventions is not adopted. 

 The zone of three miles in respect to bays has to be reckoned 

 according to the principles of international law. 2 



Spain, it may be added, after the victorious campaign of 

 1859-60, concluded a treaty with Morocco, by which Spanish 

 subjects are allowed to fish on the coast of that country up to 



1 Fish Trades Gazette, 10th Dec. 1904, p. 23. London. Boletin Oficial de la 

 Liga Maritima Espanola ; Vida Maritima, Revista de Navegacidn y Comercio, 

 Pesquerias, &c. Madrid. In 1905 no less than forty-five English trawlers, as well 

 as four German trawlers and one Spanish, landed fish at Lisbon and Oporto, which 

 had been caught in neighbouring waters and as far as Morocco, the value being 

 332,220 milreis, or about 74,750. Estatistica das I'escas Maritimas, Anno de 1905. 

 Lisboa, 1907. 



2 A summary of this new law, which received the sanction of the King of Portugal 

 on 26th October 1909, is given in Mitteilungen des Deutschen Seefischerei- Vereins 

 for February 1910 (Bd. xxvi. No. 2), from Diario do Governo, No. 247, viz. : 

 Portugiesisches Gesetz betreffend das Verbot fur fremde Fahrzeuge zum Fischen in 

 den territorialen Gewassern. " Art. 1. In den portugiesischen Territorialgewassern 

 innerhalb einer Zone von 3 Seemeilen, von der Linie des Niedrigstwasserstandes an 

 gerechnet, ist fremden Fahrzeugen das Fischen verboten. In den Buchten ist die 

 Zone von 3 Seemeilen gemass den Grundsatsen des internationalen Rechts zu 

 berechnen." 



