Page 212 - UAE Truncal States

The Traditional Economics

industry, it became necessary that a clear line of policy should be laid
down. The Law Officers of the Crown were consulted and in a finding
dated 'll February 1905 their opinion was that within the three mile
limit and in "any other water which might justly be considered
territorial, the tribes of the Arabian Coast were entitled to the
exclusive use of the pearl fisheries. As regards pearl banks outside
territorial waters it was held that, as a matter of international law,
such banks were capable of being the properly of the tribes to the
exclusion of all nations."41 The Law Officers pointed out that the
question of ownership of the banks could be raised at the Hague
Tribunal, but because there was no guarantee that its decision would
be in favour of exclusive Arab ownership of all the banks on the
southern part of the Gulf, it would probably be belter to avoid raising
the question internationally, and that as far as possible indirect
measures of diplomacy should be used by the Government to protect
the Arab tribes from intruders into the pearling industry.
On the strength of this recommendation it became easier for the
authorities in Bombay and Bushire to foil subsequent attempts of
companies to enter into this industry. At limes this firm policy of the
British authorities was endangered by the underhand attempts of
people seeking concessions, in that they went straight to the Arab
shaikhs. In one instance in 1900 a British Indian merchant settled in
Muscat managed to obtain a concession from the Ruler of Abu Dhabi
and made arrangements with some Bani Yas regarding boats. The
British Political Resident in Bushire immediately enquired from the
other shaikhs of Trucial Oman and Bahrain whether they consented
to this arrangement. The general opinion was, however, that the
banks were the "common property of the coast Arabs, that no Shaikh
had the right to grant permission for diving to foreigners, and that the
appearance of divers equipped with European diving dresses would
probably not be regarded with equanimity by the local operatives."42
So ingrained was this conviction that the pearl banks belonged to the
people of the Arab coast and islands that even in the post-oil era
Rulers do not find it worth their while to antagonise the tribal
population over this matter of principle by granting concessions to
anyone, local or foreign, for the exploitation of the pearl banks with
modern diving equipment. The few attempts to bring together local
Arab and foreign interests in such ventures in the Gulf have all come
to nothing.
187