NORTH ATLANTIC FISHERIES DISPUTE 



By James White, F.R.S.C. 

 Secretary, Commission of Conservation 



The decision of the Hague Tribunal, rendered Sept, 7,J910, prac 

 tically ended differences that have, for nearly a century, t>.iist.;-d between . 

 Canada and Newfoundland, on the one hand, and the. United States,, on 

 the other. Before discussing the award, it is necessary to stA'ct briellj 

 the history of the dispute that was referred to the Tribunal. 



On Nov. 30, 1782, the provisional articles of the treaty 

 Treaty of of peace were signed at Paris by Richard Oswald on the 



Paris, 1782 ^^^^ ^^ Great Britain, and by John Adams, Benjamin 

 Franklin and John Jay on the part of the United States. On September 

 3, 1783, the definitive treaty of peace, commonly known as the Treaty of 

 Paris, was signed at Paris. Art. Ill of the latter is identical with Art. 

 Ill of the provisional treaty, and reads as follows : — 



"It is agreed that the people of the United States shall continue 

 to enjoy unmolested the right to take fish of every kind on the Grand 

 Bank and on all the other banks of Newfoundland ; also in the Gulph of 

 St. Lawrence, and at all other places in the sea, where the inhabitants 

 of both countries used at any time heretofore to fish ; and also that the 

 inhabitants of the United States shall have liberty to take fish of every 

 kind on such part of the coast of Newfoundland as British fishermen 

 shall use (but not to dry or cure the same on that island) ; and also on 

 the coasts, bays and creeks of all other of his Britannic Majesty's 

 dominions in America; and that the American fishermen shall have 

 liberty to dry and cure fish in any of the unsettled bays, harbours and 

 creeks of Nova Scotia, Magdalen Islands and Labrador, so long as the 

 same shall remain unsettled ; but so soon as the same or either of them 

 shall be settled, it shall not be lawful for the said fishermen to dry or 

 cure fish at such settlement, without a previous agreement for that 

 purpose with the inhabitants, proprietors or possessors of the ground." 



This article conceded : 



(1) The right of the Americans to take fish on the "banks" of 

 Newfoundland, in the gulf of St. Lawrence and in the sea, 



(2) The liberty to take fish on the coasts of Canada and New- 

 foundland. 



(3) The liberty to dry and cure fish in the unsettled portions of 

 the coasts of Canada and Newfoundland. 



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