634 REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 



The council is likewise empowered to extend the time when the fish- 

 ing of salmon, salmon-trout, and trout is prohibited, in any water or 

 in portions of it, to a whole year or several years, if their preservation 

 demands such a measure. 



The council can only make exceptions in the case of piscicultural 

 establishments, allowing fish to be caught during the season of protec- 

 tion, or spawn to be taken for the purpose of hatching, if the establish- 

 ment in question contributes its share toward restocking the waters of 

 the canton. Such establishments are, if necessary, to be placed under 

 special police protection. 



It is forbidden to throw or otherwise introduce into fishing- waters 

 refuse from factories or other injurious substances. Such refuse must 

 be buried in pits. If the agricultural or industrial interests are of more 

 importance than the fisheries, the council may permit exceptions to 

 this rule. 



The owners of water-privileges are obliged to build their weirs and 

 dams in such a manner as to allow the fish to swim up the stream. 

 Proper arrangements shall also be provided to prevent fish from getting 

 entangled in mill-wheels, &c. 



Violations of this law are punished — 



a. By fines, varying from 81 to $20, or by imprisonment; 



b. Withdrawal of the lease, or of the fishing-permit, for a certain 

 period, or forever ; 



c. By confiscation of prohibited implements, or of fish bought or sold 

 contrary to the regulations as to size and fishing-season. 



The council is empowered to conclude treaties with the neighboring 

 cantons or states, regarding the fisheries in waters which form boundary- 

 lines, and, if circumstances require, to suspend some of the regulations 

 of this law as far as boundary- waters are concerned, and to make special 

 rules for such waters. It is also charged with carrying the law into 

 effect by special ordinances. 



Such an ordinance was promulgated by the council May 17, 1871. 



This statute gives. the division of the canton into districts which are 

 rented, and districts where fishing can be carried on by permit; like- 

 wise regulations as to renting and issuing fishing-permits. 



If no bid should be made on any district, permits may be issued for 

 such a district ; and, vice versa, if no permits are taken out, it may be 

 rented. 



An exception from the regulations contained in this law is made with 

 regard to the fisheries in the Bhine, both as to the implements and the 

 seasons of protection, as long as these fisheries are not regulated by 

 treaties, or whenever the fishermen on the opposite shore do not of 

 their own accord submit to these regulations. The obstruction of the 

 Bhine by nets or other apparatus for more than half its breadth is even 

 now strictly prohibited on both banks. 



Lessees of fisheries who carry on artificial breeding, and can prove 



