DESPATCHES, REPORTS, CORRESPONDENCE, ETC. 807 



SEC. 5. This law shall go into operation on the 1st of January 

 of next year and shall remain in force for five years. 



PROCLAMATION CONTAINING THE REGULATIONS RELATIVE TO THE PRO- 

 TECTION OF WHALES ON THE COASTOF FINMARKEN, JANUARY 5,1881. 



Referring to the law of June 19th, 1880, relative to the protection 

 of whales on the coast of Finmarken, it is hereby ordered : 



In the sea coast of Finmarken, at a distance not exceeding one 

 geographical mile from the coast, counted from the outermost islands 

 or rocks which are never covered by the sea, it shall, until further 

 notice, be prohibited to kill or chase whales during the period from 

 the 1st of January till the end of May. 



As regards the Varangerfjord, the limit for the protected tract 

 and towards the sea shall be a straight line drawn from Kibergnos to 

 the boundary, the Jakobselv, but it shall also be prohibited outside 

 of this line, during the season of protection mentioned above, to kill 

 cr chase whales at a distance of less than one geographical mile from 

 Kibbergnos. 



[Extract from the Case of the United States.] 



Game and Fishery laws are usually limited in their effects to the 

 land and territorial waters of the country which enacts them. But 

 instances are many wherein nations have not hesitated to extend the 

 effects of their laws to the waters contiguous to their shores, beyond 

 the ordinary three-mile limit. Citations have already been made of 

 the laws for the protection of seals of quite a number of nations, 

 which, so far as their own subjects are concerned, apply to large 

 areas of the high seas, and it has been shown that Great Britain and 

 Russia extend their exclusive juridiction for the protection of seals, 

 frequenting waters contiguous to their shores, far beyond the marine 

 league. But further instances may be cited where nations have 

 exercised extraterritorial jurisdiction on the ocean for the protection 

 of other species of marine life besides the seal. In fact, it may be 

 laid down as a principle, established by international usage, that any 

 nation which has a peculiar interest in the continued existence of any 

 valuable marine product, located in the high seas adjacent to its 

 coasts or territorial waters, may adopt such measures as are essential 

 to the preservation of the species, without limitation as to the dis- 

 tance from land at \vhich such necessary measures may be enforced. 



This principle is well illustrated by two recent Statutes enacted by 

 the Parliament of Great Britain. By the British " Sea Fisheries 

 Act " of 18C8 provision is made for the regulation of oyster dredging 

 on any oyster bed within twenty miles of a straight line drawn 

 486 from the Eastern end of Lamby Island to Carnsore Point on 

 the Eastern coast of Ireland. The law states in terms that it 

 is to be enforced " outside of the exclusive Fishery limits of the Brit- 

 ish isles," and that every order issued in pursuance of it shall be 

 binding not only on British sea-fishing boats, but also " on any other 

 sea-fishing boats in that behalf specified in the order and on the crews 



See Decrees of February 22, 1812, and October 16, 1869. 



