THE LOBSTER FISHERY. 733 



Neic Hampshire* 

 Fish and game laws, chapter 4. 



"SECTION 16. No person shall catch, preserve, soil, or expose for sale within the limits of the 

 State of New Hampshire, any lobster between the fifteenth clay of August and the fifteenth day of 

 October of each year; and from the said fifteenth day of October to the fifteenth day of August 

 next following of each year no lobster shall be caught, preserved, sold, or exposed for sale, under 

 ten and one-half inches in length, measuring from one extreme of the body to the other, exclusive 

 of claws or feelers, nor shall any female lobster be killed or destroyed while carrying her spawn 

 or hatching her young; and any person violating any provision of this section shall be punished 

 by a fine of ten dollars for every lobster so caught, used, sold, or exposed for sale, as aforesaid." 



Massachusetts. 



Chapter 91, public statutes. 



"SECTION 81. Whoever, from the twentieth day of June to the twentieth day of September, 



takes a lobster shall be punished for each offense by fine of not less than ten nor more than one 



hundred dollars, or by imprisonment in the house of correction for not less than one nor more 



than three months; but a person catching a lobster when lawfully fishing, and immediately 



' returning it alive to the waters from which it was taken, shall not be subject to such penalty. 



" SEC. 82. Whoever, from the twentieth day of June to the twentieth day of September buys, 

 sells, or has in his possession, a lobster taken in this Commonwealth shall forfeit for each offense 

 not less than ten nor more than fifty dollars. 



" SEC. 83. The mayor and aldermen of every city, the selectmen of every town, and all police 

 officers and constables, shall cause the provisions of the two preceding sections to be enforced in 

 their respective cities and towns. 



" SEC. 84. Whoever sells or offers for sule, or has in his possession with intent to sell, either 

 directly or indirectly, a lobster less than ten and one half inches in length, measuring from one 

 extreme of the body extended to the other, exclusive of claws or feelers, shall forfeit five dollars 

 for every such lobster; and, in all prosecutions under this section the possession of any lobster 

 not of the required length shall be prima facie evidence to convict. 



"SEC. 85. All forfeitures under the four preceding sections shall be paid, one-half to the 

 person making the complaint and one-half to the city or town where the offense was committed." 



" SEC. 88. If, within the harbors, streams, or waters of any place on the sea-coast which 

 adopts this section, or has adopted the corresponding sections of earlier statutes, any person 

 living without the State takes, for the purpose of carrying thence, any lobsters, tautog, bass, 

 blue fish, or scnppaug, or if any person living within this State takes and carries away from any 

 such place any such fish or lobsters in vessels or smacks of more than fifteen tons' burden, he shall 

 forfeit for each offense a sum not exceeding twenty dollars, and all the fish and lobsters so taken. 



" SEC. 89. No person shall take lobsters within the waters and shores of the town of Province- 

 town for the purpose of carrying them from said waters in a vessel or smack of more than fifteen 

 tons' burden, or for the purpose of putting the same on board of such vessel or smack to be trans 

 ported to any place unless a permit is first obtained therefor from the selectmen of said town, who 

 may grant the same for such sum to be paid to the use of the town as they shall deem proper. 



" SEC. 90. Whoever violates the provisions of the preceding section shall forfeit ten dollars 

 for each offense; and if the number of lobsters so unlawfully taken or found on board of any such 

 vessel or smack exceeds one hundred lobsters, lie shall in addition forfeit a further sum of ten 



