OYSTER FISHERY LEGISLATION. 1003 



The Act of 1877 (40 and 41 Viet., c. 42), which 

 repealed the Norfolk enactment (1876) amended the 

 oyster, crab, lobster, and other sea-fishery laws generally. 

 It treated, firstly, of oysters, unlike the Norfolk Act, which 

 concerned crabs and lobsters only ; secondly, of crabs and 

 lobsters ; and thirdly, it regulated the procedure necessary 

 for the enforcement of its provisions. 



In Great Britain, under a 2 penalty, persons are 

 prohibited from selling deep-sea oysters between the i5th 

 of June and the 4th of August, and other oysters between 

 the 1 4th of May and the 4th of August, unless the oysters 

 were either taken in foreign waters, or preserved in tins or 

 removed for cultivation within certain districts. One of 

 these districts was the Thames estuary west of a line drawn 



j 



from Orford Ness to the North Foreland. The next pro- 

 vision is of great importance. By it the Board of Trade, 

 on application, and after inquiry and notice, may prohibit 

 the taking of oysters during any period less than a year. 

 The Board of Trade may, in addition, renew its prohibition 

 from year to year, vary its orders, and enforce them by 

 penalties ranging to ^20. This part of the enactment 

 does not, however, apply to grants of oyster rights under 

 the Third Part of the Act of 1868. The application for a 

 prohibition on oyster-taking may be made by any persons 

 " appearing to the Board of Trade to represent the fisher- 

 men of any locality, or others locally interested in the 

 fisheries." Justices, town councils, urban or rural, sanitary 

 authorities, bodies corporate, or persons regulating a har- 

 bour, are examples of the possible applicants. By the 

 seventh section, the expense of obtaining the confirmation 

 of an order under the Third Part of the Sea Fisheries Act 

 of 1868 is reduced. If for an area of less than 5 acres the 

 grant of a several oyster-fishery does not exceed twenty- 



