THE INADEQUACY OF THE THREE-MILE LIMIT 707 

 resolved, in view of an official international conference being 



o 



called, to circulate a set of questions regarding the scientific 

 and statistical aspect of the subject. 1 



The complaints continuing as to the deterioration of the 

 fisheries, the Government in 1893 appointed a Select Committee 

 of the House of Commons to inquire into their condition and 

 to report as to what remedies might be required. The trawlers 

 again gave strong evidence as to the impoverishment of the 

 grounds in the North Sea from over-fishing, the banks having 

 been " fished out " in succession as they were discovered, so that 

 they were compelled to go to distant regions, as Iceland and 

 the Bay of Biscay, to keep up the supplies. Some of them still 

 pressed for an extension beyond the three-mile limit and the 

 prohibition of trawling within ten miles from the shore, 

 especially on the foreign coasts on the eastern side of the 

 North Sea, and in particular that large areas in the extra- 

 territorial waters should be closed by international agreement. 

 The prohibition of the sale of immature flat fishes was also 

 strongly advocated as an indirect means of closing these 

 grounds. The Committee reported that the evidence of all 

 classes of witnesses, " whether trawlers or linesmen, smack- 



1 International Conference of Representatives of Maritime Powers convened 

 under the auspices of the National Sea Fisheries Protection Association, to discuss 

 the Question of Remedial Measures necessary to be taken for the Preservation and 

 Development of the Fisheries in the Extra-territorial Waters of Europe, 1890. 

 Minutes of Proceedings. The Conference passed a resolution that an official 

 international conference of European maritime powers should be held with the 

 view of concluding a convention for the preservation of undersized fish ; and 

 another, proposed by Dr P. P. C. Hoek, the delegate for the Netherlands, that 

 before such a conference met, " the different nations interested in the sea fisheries 

 of European waters should collect, with as little delay as possible, sufficient in- 

 formation, scientific as well as statistical, with regard to the damage done by the 

 capture of undersized fish by their fishermen." The author, who was present, 

 conscious of the advantages of international co-operation, if the programme and 

 conditions were appropriate, proposed that Dr Hoek's resolution "should be modi- 

 fied in the way of recommending that a joint scheme of investigation might be 

 drawn up by the countries concerned " ; and on the motion of Captain C. F. 

 Drechsel, the delegate for Denmark, who approved of it, the delegates adjourned 

 to consider this proposal. The result, however, was merely the tabling of a 

 resolution, which was adopted, "That the National Sea Fisheries Protection 

 Association be requested to formulate a set of questions with a view to obtain- 

 ing scientific and statistical information in relation to undersized fish, and forward 

 it to each delegate, in order that he may submit it to his Government for adoption " 

 with what result does not appear. Ibid., pp. 21, 34, 36, 37. 



