Note 1155 — Chapter III · THE FISHERY CONVENTIONS.

Had the coasts of the United States been visited by British fishermen, it is not unlikely that the Government of that country would have been more willing to admit the ordinary interpretation with regard to bays. British vessels do not, however, fish on the coasts of the United States, and the United States fishermen, having exhausted the once productive waters of their own coasts of the New England States, go to catch a large part of their fish to the waters on the coasts of British North America, and hence it is to their interest that the limit of exclusive fishing on the latter should be as small as they can get it made. The position is very similar to that of the English trawlers who, having impoverished the North Sea, now go to foreign coasts, as Iceland, to keep up the supplies. See p. 707.