646 REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 



" Segena una ad piscandum! 1 (Man. Boic, 85.) By the term " segena" 

 is meant a large drag-net, with all the fishing-apparatus belonging to 

 it, large and small boats, and implements of every kind ; sometimes this 

 word also implies the fishing-privilege, and occasionally the district 

 where such privilege may be exercised. 



Besides the segena], or great fishers, there were small "carriers," or 

 small fishers, who again were subdivided into " Ganders? (literally 

 " netters,") who were allowed to use bow-nets, and " Schniirer, n (literally 

 " liners,") who were only allowed to use hooks and lines. 



The oldest fishing-law of Upper Austria is that established by the 

 Emperor Maximilian I, March 7, 1499, which is preserved in the archives 

 at Linz. In this law, the emperor charges his vice-regent in the country 

 above the Enns, George von Losersteiu, to regulate the fisheries in the 

 river Traun from the Falls to the Danub.e. 



This law contains a paragraph ordering the fishermen only to use 

 segenw, or bow-nets, with meshes of a certain size, and to throw out all 

 all fish which have not the prescribed length. 



The government prescribed the size of the meshes on certain small 

 stamped pieces of board, which were to serve as models for those blocks 

 on which the fishermen knit their nets. Illustrations of such model 

 blocks are frequently met with in old fishing-laws, and also pictures of 

 fish of the exact size below which they must not be caught. Such pic- 

 tures were frequently hung up in town and city halls, and may yet be 

 seen there, as in the city-hall of Zurich. 



A very similar fishing-law was proclaimed February 1, 1537, by the 

 Emperor Ferdinand I. This law enumerates those fishiugimplements 

 which are entirely prohibited, such as double drag-nets, the outer one 

 having smaller meshes than the inner one. It also prohibits the catch- 

 ing of fish during the spawning season. Specially appointed fish-mas- 

 ters are to examine the fish-tanks frequently. 



A third fishing-law for Upper Austria was enacted by the Emperor 

 Maximilian II, December 31, 1573, which is kept in the register's office for 

 Upper Austria. This law for the greater part is a repetition of former 

 laws, and contains certain limitations for protecting navigation on the 

 river Traun. 



Complaints having been raised by the provincial assembly against the 

 former fishing-laws, a new one was proclaimed by the Emperor Rudolf II, 

 June 3, 1583, which has not been displaced by any later code, but which 

 has practically everywhere fallen into disuse. It is contained in the 

 Codex Anstriacus, I, p. 354, and relates chiefly " to the waters, rivers, and 

 streams containing the greatest wealth of fish, viz, the Danube, Traun, 

 Vokla, Ager, Aim, Krems, Enns, and Heier." 



For the lakes, especially for the Mond, After, Wolfganger, Hallstiidter, 

 and Gmunder Lakes, there were special laws, which the emperor in 

 former times had, to a great extent, examined and amended through his 

 commissioners. 



