Foreign Relations of the United States, 1947, The American Republics, Volume VIII

812.628/12–1047

The Acting Secretary of State to the Ambassador in Mexico (Thurston)

confidential
No. 1616

Washington, December 10, 1947.

Sir: Reference is made to your despatch No. 2961 of February 26, 1947,⁹ concerning the interception and detention by Mexican authorities in September, 1946, of United States fishing vessels which had been operating off the coasts of the State of Campeche.¹⁰

In view of the proposed negotiation of a fisheries treaty between this Government and Mexico, the Department does not at this time deem it advisable to take definitive action in this matter. However, it feels that the attention of the Government of Mexico should be directed to three points brought out by the Mexican note enclosed with the despatch under consideration. These are (1) the statement that the limit of territorial waters, as between the United States and Mexico, is established by treaty to be nine nautical miles; (2) the assertion of jurisdiction, in the particular case under reference, at a point four miles from the coast by virtue of the General Law of National Wealth published August 26, 1944; and (3) the claim that the vessels were four miles from land at the time of apprehension, a claim which is not substantiated by depositions and other evidence in the files of the Department, which indicate rather that the seizure occurred seventeen miles from land.

With reference to the purported establishment of the nine mile limit by the Treaties of 1848 and 1853,¹¹ the United States, by the note of March 7, 1936,¹² to the Government of Mexico reserved all rights of whatever nature so far as effects on American commerce are concerned from enforcement of the Decree of August 29, 1935, which essayed to extend Mexican territorial waters from three miles to nine miles in breadth, and in subsequent correspondence pointed out that the Treaty of 1848 mentioned furnished no authority for Mexico to claim generally that its territorial waters extend nine miles from the coast. The claim of extension of territorial waters to nine miles was repeated in Article 17, Section II, of the General Law of National Wealth (published August 26, 1944), under which article the present seizures were made. It is felt necessary, therefore, that this Government should reiterate its position that it does not recognize general Mexican sovereignty in waters beyond the three mile limit, and that it reaffirms the reservations of rights of American commerce, made in 1936, against the enforcement of the law of August 26, 1944, and of all other laws purporting to extend general jurisdiction beyond three miles.

You are requested, therefore, unless you perceive objection, to transmit to the Mexican Ministry of Foreign Affairs a note along the following lines:

“I have the honor to refer to Your Excellency’s note No. 52602 of February 18, 1947, concerning the interception and detention, in September, 1946, of four United States fishing vessels which had been operating off the coasts of the State of Campeche.

“In the note under reference the statement is made that the territorial waters of Mexico, in the relations between the United States and Mexico, have an extension of nine miles, which extension, it is stated, is derived from interpretations of Article V of the Treaty of 1848 and of Article I of the Treaty of 1853 between the United States and Mexico. The Government of the United States maintains, and has consistently maintained, that the general territorial jurisdiction of Mexico, so far as United States nationals are concerned, extends three miles seaward from the coast measured from the low-water mark. In this regard Your Excellency’s attention is invited to this Embassy’s note of June 3, 1936,¹³ addressed to Your Excellency’s Government, which, after discussing at length the Treaty of 1848, pointed out that it furnished no authority for the Government of Mexico to claim generally that the territorial waters of Mexico extend nine miles from the coast. The same conclusion necessarily applies to the Treaty of 1853 which, in regard to the question of territorial waters, introduced no change in the terms or meaning of the Treaty of 1848.

“With reference to Article 17, Section II, of the General Law of National Wealth referred to in Your Excellency’s note and stated to be the justification of the seizures, the United States cannot, so far as that law purports to define the territorial waters of Mexico as coastal waters to the distance of nine nautical miles from land, accept its application to United States fishing vessels operating between three and nine miles off the coast. Further, the Government of the United States continues, as in 1936, to reserve all rights of whatever nature so far as concerns any effects upon American commerce from enforcement of this legislation, or of similar legislation which purports to extend the limit of general jurisdiction beyond three nautical miles.

“Your Excellency’s note states also that the vessels at the time of apprehension were four miles from the coast. Although on the basis of evidence available at this time it would appear that the actual distance was seventeen miles, it is not the intention of this Government to discuss this question which is one of fact. The violation of American rights is equally serious whether the seizure took place at the lesser or the greater distance, both being outside the territorial waters in which general jurisdiction could properly be exercised under the circumstances.

“In the sincere hope that the proposed negotiations between the Government of the United States and Your Excellency’s Government with respect to fisheries matters will remove all future difficulties in what Your Excellency rightly terms a routine matter of coast patrol, this Government does not at this time desire to press the issue of the unwarranted seizures of the vessels mentioned above or of other seizures which occurred recently.¹⁴ It does, however, desire to indicate to the Government of Mexico that it has not changed the position set forth in the note of June 3, 1936, and that it cannot recognize as justified any interference of this character with fishing vessels flying the flag of the United States when such vessels are situated at a distance of more than three miles from the coasts of Mexico.”

Very truly yours,

For the Acting Secretary of State:

Willard L. Thorp

9. Not printed.
10. For documentation on the four Louisiana shrimp vessels apprehended in the Bay of Campeche and released through the Embassy’s representations after payment of a fine of 1,000 pesos each, see Foreign Relations, 1946, vol. xi, pp. 1058–1067.
11. For the treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, February 2, 1848, and the Gadsden treaty, December 30, 1853, see Department of State Treaty Series Nos. 207 and 208, respectively, or 9 Stat. 922 and 10 Stat. 1031, respectively.
12. Foreign Relations, 1936, vol. v, p. 759.
13. Not printed.
14. Four American fishing vessels were taken into custody and detained at the port of Obregon in January 1947, and another vessel was detained at Tampico in April and released by Mexican authorities on July 2.