159 PART II. 



CHAPTER IX. 



GENERAL CONSIDERATIONS AFFECTING THE QUES- 

 TION OF REGULATIONS. 



It is necessary in approacliing tlie consideration of the 

 question of Kegulations (if any are to be made) to recall its * 

 relation to the tive points raised by the YIth Article of the 

 Treaty, bearing in mind that it is only in the event of 

 those five questions having been so determined as to ren- 

 der the concurrence of Great Britain necessary that the 

 authority of the Arbitrators as to Kegulations arises 

 (Article Yll). 



What, then, does that determination involve ? It involves 

 the recognition of the proposition that Behring Sea is to 

 be regarded as a sea open to the commerce and to the fish- 

 ermen of the world, and that the United States have no 

 exclusive right of protection or property in the fur-seals 

 frequenting the islands of the United States in Behring 

 Sea when such seals are found outside the ordinary 3 mile 

 limit. 



It follows that the rights and interests of the United 

 States in fur-seals frequenting such islands do not differ 

 from the rights and interests of any other portion of man- 

 kind, except in so far as the territorial i^ossession of those 

 islands by the United States gives to their nationals the 

 exclusive right of ca])tuie in territorial waters, and the 

 advantages derived from the fact that the seals congregate 

 in large numbers on those islands, thereby giving the 

 opportunity for their slaughter. 



In the next place, it is to be remembered that the object of 

 Regulations (assuming any Kegulations to be made) should 

 be the preservation of the fur-seal industry for the benefit 

 not of the United States alone, but of all those who 

 IGO may find it profitable to pursue this industry in non- 

 territorial waters. 



Ko such Kegulations can be just or effective ujless 

 accompanied by corresponding and correlative control over 

 the islands and over the time, method, and extent of slaugh- 

 ter upon them by the nationals of the United States of 

 America. 



137 



