Newfoundland past under the protection of the Newfoundland regulations. Colonial Government, which has enforced a close season, not allowing sail vessels to leave port on sealing voyages before March 1, and steam ves_ sels before March 10, and prohibiting seal killing before March 12, under a penalty of from four hundred dollars to two thousand dollars, and has enacted other stringent regulations.' But even these laws have not proved sufficiently efficacious, and in April, 1892, a new act "to regulate the prosecution of the seal fisheries" was passed." This act defers the date of leaving port two days later, and prohibits the killing of seals at all seasons of the year except between March 14 and April 20, inclusive. It is further made an offense to bring any seal killed out of season into any port of the Colony under a penalty of four thousand dollars, and all steamers are prohibited from proceeding on a second trip to the seal waters in any one year. It will be seen from the depositions of Richard Pike, a master mariner of fortyfour years' experience in hair-seal hunting, and of James G. Joy, master mariner of twenty-four years' experience in seal hunting, that the law prohibiting the second sealing trip was enacted because it tended to the extermination of the hairseals, as at least seventy-five per cent of those Newfoundland Seal Act, 1879, Vol. I, p. 442. 2 Newfoundland Seal Act, 1892, Vol. I, p. 444. regulations. killed on the second trip are females, and many Newfoundland at that time are shot in the water and sink before they can be recovered.1 ulations. Next in importance to the Newfoundland hair-Jan Mayen regseal region is that in the Atlantic Ocean east of Greenland, and known as the Jan Mayen Seal Fishery. This region in the open sea is embraced in the area lying between the parallels of 67° and 75° north latitude and the meridians of 5° east and 17° west longitude from Greenwich. These fisheries were made the subject of legislative regulation, applicable to their own subjects, by the Governments of Great Britain, Sweden and Norway, Russia, Germany, and Holland, by a series of statutes passed by these several countries during the years 1875, 1876, 1877, and 1878.2 The 3d of April is established as the earliest date each year on which the seals could be legally captured, and penalties are fixed for a violation of the prohibition. It will thus be seen that not only Great Britain Concurrence of and her colonies have found it necessary to protect by legislation the hair-seal of the North James G. Joy, Vol. II, p. 591; Richard Pike, Vol. II, p. 592. "The Seal Fishery Act, 1875," 38 Vict., c. 18; British Order in Council of Nov. 28, 1876; Law of Sweden and Norway of May 18, 1876; Ordinance of Norway of Oct. 28, 1876; Ordinance of Sweden of Nov. 30, 1876; Law of Germany of Dec. 4, 1876; Ordinance of Germany of Mar. 29, 1877; Law of the Netherlands of Dec. 31, 1876; Decree of the Netherlands of Feb. 5, 1877; Law of Russia of Dec. 1878: Sec. 223 of Russian Code of Laws, 1886. nations. nations. Concurrence of Atlantic from extermination, but that other nations have united and concurred in the same protection. Caspian Sea regulations. Fur-seal protection by other nations. Stringent regulations have also been adopted by Russia for the protection of the hair-seals in the Gulf of Mezen, a part of the White Sea, the greater portion of which is beyond the threemile limit. All sealing is subject to the supervision of public overseers, who have authority to determine the time at which the annual catch is to begin at certain designated places, and to preserve order during the continuance of sealing operations, as to which the law contains certain prohibitions.1 The sealeries in that portion of the Caspian Sea which belongs to Russia are under the control of a "Bureau of Fishing and Sealing Industries," which is charged with a general supervision of the sealeries, and the enforcement of the law, which contains regulations for a close season, a license fee, and prohibition of killing or disturbance during the breeding time.1 Similar enactments protect the fur-seal in other portions of the world, as other nations have recognized how indispensable to the preservation of the fur-seal species is the prohibition of unlicensed and unlimited sealing The Lobos I Code of Russian Laws, 1886, and map of area, Vol. I, p. 445. tion by other na Island rookeries have for over sixty years been Fur-seal protecprotected by the Government of Uruguay, and tions. the right of sealing leased to a company under governmental protection Lobos Islands have for Lobos Islands. tion and preservation of the fur-seals at the 3 Robben Islands. tection on the Commander Islands and Robben Commander and Island is too well known to need further citation. FISHERIES. The foregoing review of the legislation of various nations shows that they have deemed it necessary to adopt stringent regulations, not only in waters adjacent to, but also at great distances from, their respective land boundaries, in order to protect from extermination the fur and the hair-seal. But it will be interesting, and profit Summary of Uruguay laws, in letter of April 2, 1892, by the Custodian of Archives at Montevideo, Vol. I, p. 448; Article by Dr. Allen, Part II, Vol. I, p. 397. * George Comer, Vol. II, p. 597. Statutes of Japan, Vol. I, p. 449. Game laws. able for the purposes of this Arbitration, to carry the investigation of national legislation a step further and to examine how far Governments have gone in the protection of other forms of animal life in the water, and to what extent extraterritorial jurisdiction is exercised for the preservation of national interests. All nations and races in all ages have recognized the necessity of affording sufficient protection for the reproduction and continued existence of all animal life useful to the human race. Even the savage recognizes and enforces this humanitarian and economic principle, but it is most fully recognized and enforced among civilized nations. An examination of the legislation of the countries of Europe and America shows that the protection of the Government is everywhere extended to animals feræ naturæ during the breeding season, and that especially the mother, when heavy with young or while her offspring is dependent upon her, is under the guardianship of the law. The wild animal on the land and the fish in the sea are both preserved by a close season and stringent rules, having particular reference to the reproduction and undiminished existence of the species. As indicating the character of this legislation, the attention of the Arbitrators is directed to a paper |