THE INADEQUACY OF THE THREE-MILE LIMIT 717 



to enforce the order made by the magistrates against the 

 owner and skipper." It is added that " it is thought, however, 

 that means have been found within the existing law of com- 

 pelling foreign trawlers to observe the byelaws affecting Irish 

 territorial waters." l 



It is, however, with reference to the legislation for Scotland, 

 under which certain areas are closed against trawling, that the 

 main controversies have been raised. Several statutes gave 

 power to the Fishery Board for Scotland to regulate trawling. 

 The first was an Act of 188 1, 2 which empowered the Board of 

 Trade to restrict or prohibit this method of fishing "in any 

 area being part of the sea adjoining the United Kingdom, and 

 within the territorial waters of Her Majesty's dominions, within 

 the meaning of the Territorial Waters Jurisdiction Act, 1878 " 

 (see p. 591) ; which power was transferred to the Scottish Board 

 by subsequent Acts. 3 Then the Sea Fisheries (Scotland) 

 Amendment Act, of 1885, 4 empowered the Board to make 

 byelaws for restricting or prohibiting, either entirely or subject 

 to such regulations as might be provided, any method of fishing 

 " in any part of the sea adjoining Scotland, and within the 

 exclusive fishery limits of the British Islands," when they were 



1 Report on the Sea and Inland Fisheries of Ireland for 1904, p. xxv. Manual of 

 Fisheries (Ireland) Acts. Section 3 (subsection 1) of the Steam Trawling (Ireland) 

 Act, 1889 (52 & 53 Viet., c. 74), gave powers to the Inspectors of Irish Fisheries to 

 make, alter, and revoke byelaws for prohibiting steam-trawling <: within three miles 

 of low-water mark of any part of the coast of Ireland, or within the waters of any 

 other defined areas specified in any such byelaw, and subject to any conditions or 

 regulations contained in such byelaw." Subsection 2 enacted that "each and every 

 person who uses any trawl-net, or any method of fishing in contravention of any 

 byelaw of the Inspectors of Irish Fisheries made in pursuance of this section," shall 

 be subject to a fine not exceeding five pounds for a first offence, or twenty pounds 

 for a second or subsequent offence, with forfeiture of the gear employed. Section 4 

 made it unlawful for "any person" to land or sell in Ireland any fish caught 

 in contravention of any such byelaw. Section 1 (subsection 1) of the Fisheries 

 (Ireland) Act, 1901 (1 Ed. VII., c. 38), makes "every person who uses any trawl- 

 net or any method of fishing in contravention of any byelaw " of the department 

 made in pursuance of the third section of the Act of 1889, liable on conviction 

 under the Summary Jurisdiction Acts to a fine not exceeding one hundred pounds, 

 with forfeiture of the gear, for the seizure of which any duly authorised officer is 

 empowered to " go on board any vessel propelled by steam employed in fishing." 

 The Irish byelaws must be approved by the Lord-Lieutenant and Privy Council of 

 Ireland. 



2 Sea Fisheries (Clam and Bait Beds) Act, 44 & 45 Viet., c. 11. 



3 48 & 49 Viet., c. 70 ; 50 & 51 Viet., c. 52. * 48 & 49 Viet., c. 70. 



