574 REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 



concerning the nature of fish, their different species, propagation, 

 growth, location, migrations, &c. ; to the teachings of technology con- 

 cerning the different methods of catching fish, the implements employed, 

 the contrivances for protecting fish against hurtful influences, for favor- 

 ing their migration, &c. ; but no less must it study the principles of polit- 

 ical economy, the ways and means of carrying on business in the most ad- 

 vantageous manner, the mode of holding property and the uses made of 

 it which are hostile to modern civilization, in order to replace them by 

 such as Avill suit the fisheries and further their interests; it must like 

 wise study the true relation toward each other of all the industries car 

 ried on by means of water, the effect of laws on industrial pursuits so 

 as not to make laws which would- decrease the net profits and would 

 deter people from engaging in fishing industries. 



Fishery legislation must also have due regard to judicial and admin- 

 istrative considerations ; it must be based on a thorough knowledge of 

 the condition of fisheries in other countries, of the fishery -laws of these 

 countries, as well as of the laws and administrative regulations of all 

 branches of industry related to fishing; and it must study the manner in 

 which laws are carried out in foreign countries and the effect of such 

 laws on the fishing interests. 



These several elements of fishery legislation had, therefore, to be 

 studied as thoroughly as possible, and made perfectly clear, before a law 

 could be drawn up. 



All the legal questions regarding fisheries cannot be settled at once 

 by passing fishery-laws, since many of them will have to be solved by 

 different forms of legislation, such as penal laws, special laws, &c. ; but 

 even for such laws, the study of the above-mentioned principles will be 

 of great use. 



Although the passing of fishery laws is an important step toward 

 furthering the fishing interests, it is neither the law nor the government 

 which calls fisheries into life ; the law would be powerless if it were not 

 energetically supported by the will of the people ; the activity of those 

 persons who possess fishing-privileges, and the spirit of enterprise in 

 individuals can alone, under the protection of the law, bring about con- 

 tinued improvements; and further changes in the fishing-privileges will 

 favor the formation of societies, produce equitable methods of renting 

 out the fisheries, and common regulations for their protection and im- 

 provement. Such individual activity must then be followed by further 

 administrative measures on the part of the communities, the provincial 

 assemblies, and the central government, for clearing away hiuderanccs 

 and creating new means of promoting the fisheries. 



From the government, we must, above everything else, expect that it 

 wdl strictly carry out the laws made for protecting the fisheries against 

 illegal encroachments, and against the unwise exhaustion of the waters 

 by those who possess fishing-privileges, as well as against interruptions 

 in fishing by the unlimited extension of the rights of third parties; to 



