XXIX -FISHERIES AND FISHERY LAWS IN AUSTRIA AND OF 



THE WORLD IN GENERAL. 



By Carl Peyrer. 



[The following article was prepared by Mr. Carl Peyrer, at the request 

 of the department of agriculture of Austria, for the purpose of giving 

 an account of the present condition of the fresh- water fisheries of that 

 empire, and incidentally of Europe in general, as also to furnish an 

 explanation of the causes which have made it necessary to provide by 

 legislative enactment and by various methods of artificial propagation 

 for the preservation and further increase of the fish. 



The article concludes with an account of the legislation which has 

 been adopted, and the general principles on which such legislation is 

 founded. All the points brought forward by the author apply to a 

 greater or less extent to the United States ; and for the purpose of 

 bringing the general history of the subject up to the present date, and 

 of showing the necessities of other countries and what has been done 

 to meet them, I have thought it proper to translate and publish the 

 report of Peyrer, so as to prepare the way for a national system ot 

 uniform regulations for the protection and improvement of the fisheries 

 of the United States. 



Spencer, F. Baird.] 



A— GENERAL CONSIDERATIONS. 



1. — EARLY PROTECTIVE MEASURES. 



Reports have been made at different times on the state of the fish- 

 eries, and on the existing fishing-privileges, in the different provinces 

 of Austria, as well as on the means of improving them, and especially 

 upon changes or complete reforms in the fishery laws. Draughts of 

 new laws have repeatedly been made, and have been thoroughly exam- 

 ined and discussed by committees appointed for the purpose, these 

 committees being assisted by persons who had made fishing a special 

 study, by representatives of the central government, by the provincial 

 authorities, and by agricultural societies. 



In looking over the reports made at different times on one and the 



* Fiscbereibetrieb uud Fiscbereirecbt in Osterreicb. Erne vergleicbeude Darstelluug 

 des osterreicbiscben Fiscbereiweseus mit dein Fiscbereibetriebe und der Fiscberei- 

 gesetgebung auderer Lander, insbesondere Deutscblands, verfasst im Auftrage des k. k. 

 Ackerbaumiuisteriurns von Carl Peyrer, Sectionsratb im k. k. Ackerbauuiinisterium. 

 Wien. Druck der k. k. Hof- uud Sfiaatsdruckerei. 1874. 8 vo. pp. iii, 159. 



