THE FISHERY CONVENTIONS 617 



Belgian fishermen should enjoy the same rights of fishing 

 on the coasts of the United Kingdom as the most favoured 

 foreign nation, and, in like manner, that British subjects 

 should enjoy corresponding rights on the coast of Belgium. 1 

 This convention was more beneficial to Belgium than to us, 

 as the Fishery Commissioners pointed out, owing to the 

 extent of the respective coasts conceded for fishing, but it 

 was thought to be satisfactory, inasmuch as defined rights 

 were substituted for vague and disputed privileges. Never- 

 theless, as the Belgian Minister remonstrated that sufficient 

 time had not been afforded for trying in the British courts 

 the validity of the charter "alleged" to have been granted 

 to the fishing vessels of Bruges, the vessels of that port 

 were allowed for one season more (namely, 1852) the privilege 

 of using the Scottish harbours for their fishing vessels and 

 of fishing from them with small boats. 2 When the author- 

 ities attempted in 1852 to enforce the convention against 

 Belgian vessels other than those of Bruges, by excluding 

 them from our harbours, so much dissatisfaction was caused 

 that the Belgian Minister again appealed to the British Govern- 

 ment, and the restriction was relaxed for another year for 

 all Belgian boats, so that the enforcement of the three-mile 

 limit against them did not come into operation till 1853. 



The violations of the boundary by French vessels, above 

 referred to, continued for many years, and the disputes were 

 sometimes so frequent and serious as to occasion the employ- 

 ment of seven or eight gunboats on the east coast of Scot- 

 land to maintain the law. Yet the three-mile limit, as the 

 Commissioners declared, was but " a slender privilege " to 

 retain for the native fishermen. " The extent of it," they 

 truly said, " when looked at from the sea appears small indeed, 



1 Convention between Her Majesty and the King of the Belgians relative to 

 Fishery. Signed at London, March 22, 1852. "Art. I. Belgian subjects shall 

 enjoy, in regard to fishery along the coast of the United Kingdom of Great Britain 

 and Ireland, the treatment of the most favoured foreign nation. In like manner, 

 British subjects shall enjoy, in regard to fishery along the coast of the Kingdom of 

 Belgium, the treatment of the most favoured foreign nation." The convention 

 was to endure for seven years, and it was to remain in force thereafter until the 

 expiry of twelve months after either party notified to the other its intention of 

 terminating it. 



- Reports by the Commissioners for the British Fisheries, 1848-51. Part. Papers, 

 Sess. 1856. 



