71 4 THE SOVEREIGNTY OF THE SEA 



been accilrish Fishery Department have made a very large 



within ttof byelaws, at various times and under various Acts 



of their regulation or prohibition of trawling. Of these some 



three-milur are at present in force, twenty-two applying to al 



their ovg and twenty-two to steam trawling alone, and one or 



occurred them date from the years 1842 and 1851. l Under these 



that thvs trawling in one form or another is prohibited entirely 



povernder certain conditions at most parts of the coast of Ire- 



and i; and on certain parts of the coast not inconsiderable 



ren/etches of the sea, beyond the three-mile limit and the limit 



bcor bays as defined in the fishery conventions, are closed against 



8 this method of fishing. The lines around the coast within 



which trawling is prohibited, in many instances pass between 



headlands which may be as much as twenty -six, and even 



forty-three, miles apart ; not infrequently they are drawn, not 



between headlands, but from one light-ship to another, an< 



these light-ships may be four or five miles from land and 



twenty miles apart. Sometimes the closing line is placed thn 



miles to the seawards of such base-lines : and they may pa: 



from about two to seven or eight miles outside the limit as 



defined in the conventions, and in some instances up to ten or 



eleven miles from low-water mark on the shore. 



It is obvious that the principle upon which these lines have 

 been drawn has been one of convenience. They differ entire! 

 from the lines of closure in the two Scottish Firths referred 

 below, which are inter fauces terrce with the lines passing 

 from headland to headland. But all the lines on the Irish 

 coast are well within the range of guns from the shore, and 

 are thus, according to the Law of Nations, within the terri- 

 torial sea. The aggregate area beyond the ordinary limits of 

 the conventions amounts to a little over 400 square ( 

 graphical) miles. 



It does not appear that foreign trawlers have been foun 

 contravening the Irish byelaws to any great extent. Betwee 

 June 1904 and September 1905 seven steam-trawlers and on 

 sailing-trawler were captured fishing within the limits, one o 

 the former being registered in a foreign country, and, wit 

 regard to it, the official report says " it was found impossibl 



1 Department of Agriculture and Technical Instruction for Ireland: Report on th 

 Sea and Inland Fisheries for 1907. Part I., General Report, pp. 56-62. 



