THE INADEQUACY OF THE THREE-MILE LIMIT 715 



with the modern development of trawling, it will not be 

 difficult to understand the scope and nature of the legislation 

 which has been devised in various countries to preserve the 

 native fisheries for the inhabitants of the coast. It may be 

 said that in practically all of them, trawl-fishing is either en- 

 tirely prohibited within territorial waters or is subjected to 

 various regulations, for the most part with the view of allowing 

 minor forms of trawling, as that for shrimps, to be carried on. 

 In those countries which have a zone of territorial water 

 extending beyond the ordinary three-mile limit, it is pro- 

 hibited within that zone, as in Norway, Spain, and Portugal, 

 and even up to twelve miles from the shore; while in some 

 others in which three miles is in use as the ordinary limit for 

 exclusive fishing, trawling is forbidden at distances beyond 

 that limit. In Italy and Austria steam-trawling is not allowed 

 within five miles of the coast. In Scotland and Ireland it is 

 prohibited in certain specified waters, which extend much 

 beyond a three-mile boundary. As recent legislation, or bye- 

 laws made with the authority of Parliament, bearing upon 

 these prohibitions have given rise to much controversy, it is 

 desirable to consider them with a little care. 



In England, where the administration of the local fisheries 

 around the coast is in the hands of various Sea Fisheries 

 District Committees, numerous byelaws have been made and 

 are in force, with the sanction of the Board of Agriculture and 



o 



Fisheries, prohibiting or regulating trawling of one kind or 

 another in the waters under the control of the Committees. 

 None of the byelaws appear to apply to parts of the sea beyond 

 the ordinary three-mile zone, though it is open to question 

 whether the wording of the Act, by which the Committees 

 were created, does not give power in that direction. 1 



1 Sea Fisheries Regulation Act, 1888, 51 & 52 Viet., cap. 54. Section 1 is as 

 follows : " 1. (1) The Board of Trade may from time to time on the application of 

 a county council or borough council, by order, (a) create a sea fisheries district com- 

 prising any part of the sea urithin which Her Majesty's subjects have by interna- 

 tional law the exclusive right of fishing, either with or without any part of the 

 adjoining coast of England and Wales ; and (b) define the limits of the district," Ac. 

 Sea Fisheries (England and Wales), Annual Reports of the Inspectors ; Board of 

 Agriculture and Fisheries, Annual Reports of Proceedings under Acts relating to Sea 

 Fisheries. An excellent chart, showing the regulations with respect to trawling 

 around the English coast, is published in the Report from the Select Committee of 

 the House of Lords on the Sea Fishcriet Bill, 1904. 



