696 THE SOVEREIGNTY OF THE SEA 



on the other, by which a zone of ten marine miles on all the 

 Russian coasts of Behring Sea and the North Pacific Ocean, 

 and a zone of thirty marine miles round the Commander 

 Islands and Robben Island, were closed to sealing for the 

 fur-seal. 1 



The other class of fisheries referred to, for sedentary animals 



months. Sealing vessels, both from the United States and from British Columbia, 

 began to frequent Behring Sea and the waters adjacent to the islands ; their com- 

 petition impaired the practical monopoly of the Company in the markets for seal- 

 skins ; and in 1886 three British vessels were seized by American revenue cruisers 

 at distances of 70, 75, and 115 miles from the land, and the masters and mates 

 were fined and imprisoned for illegal sealing. Up to 1890 other eleven British 

 sealers were similarly seized and dealt with for fishing at distances between 15 and 

 96 miles from land, and five others were ordered out of Behring Sea. In the 

 negotiations which followed, the American Government first pled a virtual mare 

 clausum for the whole of Behring Sea ; then that they had jurisdiction up to 100 

 miles from land ; and lastly, that they had special property in and right of protection 

 over the fur-seals in Behring Sea and frequenting the islands for breeding purposes. 

 The Tribunal of Arbitration decided that they had not this right of protection or 

 property " when such seals are found outside the ordinary three-mile limit." Then 

 the Tribunal, in terms of the treaty appointing them, prescribed the regulations above 

 referred to, leaving to Great Britain the honours of the contest, and to the United 

 States the advantage. The true lesson to be derived from this chapter of inter- 

 national diplomacy, is not that the high tribunal reaffirmed the three-mile limit as 

 the legal boundary of the territorial sea, which they did not do (see letter from 

 Baron de Courcel, the President, p. 664), but that that limit may be set aside and 

 a much wider boundary fixed (in this instance 60 miles) if the protection and pres- 

 ervation of a marine fishery require it. It may be added that of late years pelagic 

 sealing by Japanese has greatly increased in Behring Sea, and since the regulations 

 apply only to British and American subjects, the Japanese carry on their operations 

 up to the ordinary three-mile limit around the Pribilov Islands, and sometimes 

 within it, there having been several encounters with the American patrol boats 

 involving loss of life, and heavy fines have been inflicted on offenders. In the 

 summer of 1908 a fleet of thirty Japanese schooners, some with sixteen boats, were 

 thus engaged, and according to the Government agent, they effectually blocked the 

 escape of the seals from the islands. The agent says that in the last ten years the 

 seal herds have diminished almost three-fourths, and if the slaughter by the Japanese 

 is not put a stop to, complete destruction of the industry will follow. Thus, while 

 the British are compelled to keep sixty miles off the islands, and can only kill the 

 seals with spears, the Japanese operate up to three miles from shore, and can use 

 firearms or any other method. It is stated that some of the British Columbia 

 sealers are endeavouring to nationalise their vessels in Japan, so that they may be 

 able to fish under the Japanese flag. In April 1910, when the lease of the Company 

 expired, the United States Government did not renew it, but took the seals under 

 their own protection, and an Act was passed prohibiting the killing of the fur-seal 

 unless authorised by the Secretary of Commerce and Labour. 



1 Parl. Papers, Russia, No. 1 (1895). Correspondence respecting the Agreement 

 with Russia relative to the Seal Fishery in the North Pacific. Seal Fishery (North 

 Pacific) Act, 1893, 56 Viet., c. 23 ; Order in Council, 4th July 1893. 



