672 THE SOVEREIGNTY OF THE SEA 



line being alone about 340 square miles ; but the extent of sea 

 included which would be outside the ordinary three-mile limit 

 is much less than might be expected, owing to the great number 

 of isles and islets along the coast. In the accompanying figure 

 (tig. 23), the part of the coast embraced by the law of 1889 is repre- 

 sented, the base-line, the boundary of the reserved waters, and 

 the ordinary three-mile limit being shown. The area of water 

 between the latter and the Norwegian limit amounts, ap- 

 proximately, to 140 square miles. The figure also shows how 

 complicated a three-mile boundary based on the provisions of 

 the North Sea Convention would be on such a coast. It is to 

 be noted further, that within the limits prescribed by the royal 

 decrees a series of stringent regulations have been made for 

 the orderly prosecution of the fishery. 1 



Of much greater international importance is the claim made 

 by the Norwegians to the exclusive right of fishing in the 

 Vestfjord, an arm of the sea which extends between the coast 

 of Nordland and the Lofoten Islands, where from time im- 

 memorial the greatest cod-fishing in Europe has been carried 

 on. 2 It is, strictly speaking, a strait, as indicated in the accom- 

 panying figure (fig. 24), bounded on one side by a chain of islands 

 and on the other by the mainland, opening to the northwards 

 by several narrow channels, and to the south by a wide mouth 

 about forty-five geographical miles in breadth. The waters of 

 the Vestfjord have for centuries been considered as territorial, 

 and the fisheries within them as reserved for the Norwegian 



o 



people ; but no decree or law has as yet been promulgated 

 respecting the boundary between the reserved waters and the 

 open sea. 3 Locally, however, as at Bodo, it is supposed that 



1 Provisorisk Anordnung angaaende vaartorskefiskeriet ved Sondmores kyster, 

 3 Jan. 1870 ; Lov angaaende vaartorskefiskeriet ved Sondmores kyster, 6 June 

 1878 ; Lov om vaartorskefiskeriet ved Romsdals amts kyst og fjorde, 1 July 1907. 



2 It is referred to in A.D. 888. The fishery is prosecuted from about the middle 

 of January to the end of April ; in 1908 over 20,000 fishermen, drawn from all the 

 neighbouring parts of the coast, took part in it. Aarsbcrctning vedkommende Norgcs 

 Fiskerierfor 1908 : 4de Hefte. Lofotfitkeriet, 1908. 



"Le droit exclusif de la peche dans le golfe du Vestfjord, consacre par un 

 usage plusieurs fois seculaire, n'a jusqu'ici etd 1'objet d'aucune disposition legisla- 

 tive." Letter of the Minister for Foreign Affairs. 6th August 1908. " The Vestfjord 

 through centuries has been considered as Norwegian territorial waters, but no 

 decree or decision as to the special frontier or limit between this fjord and the 

 open sea has been issued up to the present." Letter from his Excellency M. J. 



