624 REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 



enterprises, are unfortunately obliged, through the lack of a law, to have 

 recourse to ancient, almost fictitious laws, as for instance that those 

 holders of fishing-privileges who were not present when a resolution was 

 passed must be considered as having voted in the affirmative, that a 

 resolution passed by the majority was binding on the minority, &c, all 

 of which can only be enforced till one of the privilege-holders raises 

 objections. (See Beck, Beschreibung des RegierungsbezirJces Trier., vol. i, 

 549; iii, 305.) 



In the autumn of 1872, the draught of a new fishing-law for the Prus- 

 sian monarchy was published, and in December, 1872, brought, in a 

 somewhat amended form, into the lower house of the Prussian parlia- 

 ment. This document is one of the most important in the history of 

 fishing-legislation, and deserves our full attention also with a view to 

 the adoption of a similar law in Austria. 



In assigning reasons for passing such a law, the question is discussed 

 whether it would be profitable to settle the whole matter as hitherto, by 

 leaving it to the action of the local and provincial authorities, or whether 

 a uniform fishing-law should be passed for the whole Prussian monarchy. 



A careful consideration of this question showed that, although the 

 fisheries differ very much in many respects, legislation for their benefit 

 ought to be the same for all the provinces of the monarchy. In study- 

 ing the different means of promoting the fisheries, no interests are fount! 

 which are peculiar to any one province ; they are,* on the contrary, 

 entirely independent of differences in the methods produced by local 

 and climatic influences. 



This being the case, an economical legislation demands general and 

 uniform regulations. The means employed for promoting the fisheries 

 will only then be successful if they are impartially applied to all portions 

 of the country. It is true that, with regard to the inland waters, the 

 body of every river flowing into the sea forms, so to speak, a sepa- 

 rate and independent province ; legislation, however, cannot follow the 

 frequently not very clearly defined limits of these territories, whose 

 tributaries often extend from one to the other, without getting confused 

 and missing the object in view, viz : to establish firm and comprehensi- 

 ble rules for the fisheries, which gradually become indelibly impressed 

 on the legal conscience of all parties concerned. 



A fishing-law for the Prussian monarchy cannot entirely exhaust this 

 matter, but must leave out some points which are to be settled accord- 

 ing to local wants and by international treaties. 



Kules which come under this head would mostly refer to the weight 

 and measure below which certain fish could not be caught, sold, or 

 shipped, as also to the limits of those seasons when fish are to be pro- 

 tected, and to the use and character of the fishing-apparatus. 



These rules must be in conformity with the different methods in which 

 the fisheries- are carried on in the several provinces; but they must also 

 have regard to the different species of fish found in the different waters 



