178 THE SEA FISHERIES 



Whether or not these disappearances of certain species are 

 permanent or periodical, there is no doubt that the inshore fisher- 

 man is now driven out of areas beyond the 3-inile limit in which 

 he was formerly undisturbed, and there are, therefore, less fish 

 accessible to his operations. Steam trawling has made it either 

 unprofitable or, as in the case of crabbing, impossible for him any 

 longer to fish these grounds. In many parts of the coast there was 

 a unanimous feeling that the only effective remedy in the interests 

 of the inshore fisherman was to extend the limits of territorial 

 waters (various limits being suggested from 4 to 15 miles). 



This question of maintaining a supply of fish for the inshore 

 fisherman to catch is so obviously the most important the Com- 

 mittee had to consider that it is a matter for surprise, even in a 

 Committee constituted as this was, that they should dismiss the 

 subject with very trivial remarks. It is useless to propose palliative 

 measures such as co-operation and mutual insurance societies if 

 this, the root problem of the whole question of the future of the 

 inshore fisheries, be either ignored or lightly dismissed. The Com- 

 mittee recognise that other questions beyond the mere extension 

 of the limits in any particular locality are involved, and these 

 questions are : — 



I, The increased difficulty which might be experienced by fisher- 

 men in ascertaining whether they were within or without territorial 

 limits if at a greater distance than 3 miles from the coast . From this 

 statement one would conclude that the present limit line is drawn 

 " 3 miles from the coast." Nothing could be further from the truth. 

 As the Committee themselves note, but evidently fail to realise, 

 on the following page of the report (xvi), the distance is 3 miles 

 from low-water mark. Consequently it is only m the case of cliffs 

 which dip abruptly into the sea that the limit is exactly 3 miles 

 from the coast. This is quite exceptional. In the vast majority 

 of places the tide ebbs to a greater or less distance, and m some cases 

 for from 7 to 10 miles, and consequently the present hmit Ime is 

 more often than not drawn at a considerably greater distance than 

 3 miles from the visible coast. To argue that a skipper of a steamer 

 iwho is supposed to have passed a Board of Trade exammation 

 in navigation and seamanship-is incapable of taking accurate 

 Soss-bearings when his distance from the coast is more than 3 

 mS imXef a lack of ability to understand the sub e^ which^an 

 only be described as lamentable. As a matter of fa^t a 6« 

 limit is in effective operation in the case of pelagic sealmg around 

 IhT RibTlov Islands.'^so the objection of the Committee may be 



^TtrS^:S^^^S^ard by the Committee is that of 



