DESPATCHES, KEPOETS, CORRESPONDENCE, ETC. 399 



No. 148. 1870, June 9: Circular relating to Canadian in-shore Fish- 

 eries, issued ~by Mr. Boutwell, United States Secretary of the 

 Treasury. 



TREASURY DEPARTMENT, Washington, June 9th, 1870. 

 SIR, In compliance with the request of the Secretary of State, 

 you are hereby authorized and directed to inform all masters of 

 fishing vessels, at the time of clearance from your port, that the au- 

 thorities of the Dominion of Canada have terminated the system of 

 granting fishing licences to foreign vessels, under which they have 

 heretofore been permitted to fish within the maritime jurisdiction of 

 the said Dominion, that is to say within three marine miles of the shore 

 thereof; and that all fishermen of the United States are prohibited 

 from the use of such in-shore fisheries, except so far as stipulated in 

 the first article of the Treaty of October 20, 1818, between the United 

 States and Great Britain, in virtue of which the fishermen of the 

 United States have, in common with the subjects of Her Britannic 

 Majesty, the liberty to take fish of every kind on that part of the 

 southern coast of Newfoundland which extends from Cape Ray to 

 the Rameau Islands; on the western and northern coast of Newfound- 

 land, from the said Cape Ray to the Quirpon Islands; on the shores 

 of the Magdalen Islands ; and also on the coasts, bays, harbours, and 

 creeks, from Mount Joly, which was, when the Treaty was signed, 

 on the southern coast of Labrador, to and through the Straits or 

 Belle Isle, and thence northwardly, indefinitely along the coast, with- 

 out prejudice, however, to any exclusive rights of the Hudson's Bay 

 Company; and have also liberty for ever to dry and cure fish in any 

 of the unsettled bays, harbours, and creeks of the southern part of 

 the coast of Newfoundland, above described, and of the coast of 

 Labrador, unless the same, or any portion thereof, be settled, in which 

 case it is not lawful for the said fishermen to dry or cure fish at such 

 portion so settled, without previous agreement for such purpose with 

 the inhabitants, proprietors, or possessors of the ground; and also, 

 are admitted to enter any other bays or harbours, for the purpose 

 of shelter and of repairing damages therein, of purchasing wood, and 

 of obtaining water, and for no other purpose whatever, subject to 

 such restrictions as may be necessary to prevent their taking, drying, 

 or curing fish therein, or in any other manner whatever abusing the 

 privileges reserved to them as above expressed. Fishermen of the 

 United States are bound to respect the British laws and regulations 

 for the regulation and preservation of the fisheries to the same 

 extent to which they are applicable to British of Canadian fisher- 

 men. 



238 The Canadian law of the 22nd of May, 1868, 31 Victoria, cap. 

 61, entitled "An Act respecting Fishing by Foreign Vessels," 

 and the Act assented to on the 12th of May, 1870, entitled "An Act 

 to amend the Act respecting Fishing by Foreign Vessels, among 

 other things, enact, that any commissioned officer of Her Majesty's 

 navy, serving on board of any vessel of Her Majesty's navy, cruising 

 and being in the waters of Canada, for the purpose of affording 

 protection to Her Majesty's subjects engaged in the fisheries, or any 

 commissioned officer of Her Majesty's navy, fishery officer, or sti- 

 pendiary magistrate, on board of any vessel belonging to or in the 



