News In Brief

Ruling on Georges Bank gives three-quarters of area to US

The World Court drew a boundary Friday that gives the United States about three-quarters of the Georges Bank fishing grounds off the Atlantic seaboard. US fishermen said the ruling would hurt their industry, and there was a mixed reaction in Canada.

Canada and the US agreed to submit the dispute to the International Court of Justice after the US Senate refused to ratify a 1979 treaty that called for joint management of Georges Bank. In their presentations to the court, Canada proposed that the area be about equally divided between the two countries, while the US claimed all of the zone.