704 THE SOVEREIGNTY OF THE SEA 



From this time onwards the demand of the trawlers for some 

 legislative restrictions on trawl-fishing increased to a clamour. 

 At a conference of practical fishermen held in 1883, in con- 

 nection with the International Fisheries Exhibition at London, 

 statements were made by trawlers as to the enormous de- 

 struction of under-sized fish and the depletion of the grounds, 

 and a resolution was passed calling upon the Government to 

 bring about an international conference to consider the desir- 

 ability of recommending legislation. 1 At another conference, 

 in 1888, they declared that a large and distressing diminution 

 of flat-fishes had occurred in the North Sea ; that they viewed 

 the future with alarm unless some steps were immediately 

 taken to protect immature fishes; and they called upon the 

 Government to try to arrange for an international law for the 

 purpose. 2 As no result followed from the representations to 

 the Government, the trawl -owners on the East Coast took 

 independent action in 1890, and formally agreed, as a prelimin- 

 ary step, to prevent their trawlers from fishing in the summer 

 within a very large area of extra-territorial water off the 

 German and Danish coasts, where immature fish were gen- 

 erally caught in great abundance. The line of closure of 

 this area extended along the coast for 130 miles, passing, to 

 the west of Heligoland, at a distance varying from twenty 



1 " That taking into consideration that the question of the destruction of im- 

 mature fish is one of international importance, it is, in the opinion of this meeting, 

 imperative in the public interest that an International Conference be held to con- 

 sider the desirability of recommending legislation upon the subject ; and this 

 meeting of practical fishermen further requests of Her Majesty's Government to 

 take immediate steps to bring about such Conference at the earliest possible date." 

 Fisheries Exhibition Literature, vol. iv. pp. 346, 355. 



2 Conference of Representatives of the Trawl-Fishing Industry, held at the Inns 

 of Court Hotel, London, 13th November, 1888. " 1. That we find a large and dis- 

 tressing diminution in the North Sea of soles, turbot, plaice, and all flat fish, 

 and view with alarm the future, unless some steps are immediately taken to pro- 

 hibit the catching of immature fish." 2. "That the Conference petition Her 

 Majesty's Government, urging them to enter into negotiations with all Conti- 

 nental Governments to establish an international law to prohibit the wilful catching 

 of immature fish, and to make it unlawful to offer such immature fish for sale." 

 3. " That copies of the resolutions be forwarded to the President of the Board of 

 Trade asking for immediate action, and to the President of the National Sea 

 Fisheries Protection Association, asking that Association to undertake the respon- 

 sibility of a measure for legislation, and to do all they can for the protection of 

 immature fish in and around the coasts of the North Sea and other coasts of the 

 United Kingdom upon which breeding-grounds exist. " 



