678 THE SOVEREIGNTY OF THE SEA 



applied equally to the adjacent sea and to the entrance to the 

 fjord up to the distance of a marine league (of four miles), 

 measured from the most southerly point of the isles called 

 " Rb'st " a group which lies about twenty-six geographical 

 miles west and south of Moskenaes, and about sixty geograph- 

 ical miles from the mainland. 1 In 1870 another foreign 

 Government raised objection to the limits defined off' Romsdal 

 by the royal decree of 16th October 1869, on the ground 

 that the base-line drawn between the islands Svino and Stor- 

 holmen exceeded eight ordinary marine miles in length, which 

 was the maximum distance according to the Norwegian prin- 

 ciple, already referred to, for the inclusion of the " outermost " 

 island. The Norwegian Government, however, declared that 



c? 



by the law of nations it was competent to include a bay or a 

 gulf of " not too large an extent " by drawing the line from 

 one advanced point to another, and that it was necessary to 

 consider local circumstances and what was natural, convenient, 

 and just. The line that had been drawn, they said, coincided 

 with a natural depression in the bottom of the sea which 

 separated the inshore from the offshore fishing-banks, and it 

 formed a natural boundary which could be readily ascertained 

 by the use of a sounding-lead. To adhere strictly to the four- 

 mile line in this case would make the limit intricate and 

 impossible to be observed, and it would pass across the inshore 

 banks. It was also argued that till lately foreign fishermen 

 had never attempted to fish in the neighbourhood, even within 

 a space far more extensive than that comprised in the decree. 2 



Since the period referred to, the limit claimed by Norway is 

 said to have been respected by foreign states and by foreign 

 fishermen; and the Scandinavian Government has officially 

 declared on several occasions, and notably in December 1874 

 to the British Government, that it would never adhere to 

 any international convention which established a maritime 

 zone of less than four marine miles. It declined to become 

 a party to the North Sea Convention of 1882 for this reason, 



1 Letter of the Minister for Foreign Affairs, 7th November 1868. " Aussi il est 

 dtifendu aux sujets Strangers de faire la peche dans ce golfe, et cette defense 

 B 'applique egalement a la mer voisine et a 1'embouchure jusqu'a une distance d'une 

 lieue marine a partir du point le plus meridional du group d'ilots dit ' Rest.' " 



2 Minister of the Interior to Minister for Foreign Affairs, 28th January 1870. 



