THE FISHERY INTERESTS OF AUSTRIA. 665 



24. — THE BUYING-OFF OF FISHING-PRIVILEGES. 



From the foregoing it will be seen what confusion was occasioned 

 among the fishing-privileges in Bohemia, Moravia, and Silesia by carry- 

 ing out the buying-off measures only to a limited extent. There has been 

 no lack of attempts to solve the many difficult problems which in this 

 respect present themselves in all the provinces of Austria. 



The Silesian assembly, in order to put an end to this confusion, by 

 enforcing the ordinance of July 11, 1849, and to give an ear to complaints 

 which were comiug in thick and fast, proposed to make a new law de- 

 claring fishing in the waters of others, in brooks, and non-navigable 

 rivers, to be abolished, and to give the right to the owner of the river or 

 brook, and, wherever the ownership cannot be properly proved, to the 

 inhabitants on the banks, in proportion to the amount of property they 

 possess. If the fisheries are to be developed, and there is no reason why 

 they should not, there is no other way but to gain over to this cause 

 the owner of the river-bed and the owner of the bank. 



The assembly also recommended the method of ascertaining the 

 amount of indemnity mentioned in the ministerial ordinance of July 

 11, 1849, in those cases where it could be proved that the fishing- 

 privilege was based on a contract made with the owner of the ground. 



At the same time, it was proposed to establish, as far as possible, 

 large fishing-districts, where the business could be carried on in a 

 rational manner, and to lease them on long time. The net profits from 

 these leases should be distributed among the inhabitants on the shores 

 in due proportion to the extent of their property along the water's edge. 



The above recommendations were referred to the committee on agri- 

 culture, but no discussion was reached in the assembly. 



In the other provinces, the very important question was also frequent- 

 ly discussed, whether there should be any legal provisions prescribing 

 the buying-off of those fishing-privileges which were exercised in the 

 waters of others, or in those between banks owned by others in accord- 

 ance with the older laws. 



The imperial law of May 30, 1869, on those regulations regarding 

 water-rights which are left to the decision of the imperial parliament, 

 in §§ 2 to 7, establishes principles on the juridical character of waters 

 which have been of great importance to the fisheries, and, in its § 2, says 

 expressly that rivers and streams and their tributaries shall be public 

 property from the place where they become navigable for ships or rafts; 

 in § 3, the same is said with certain limitations of other waters ; and in 

 § 5, private brooks and other running waters shall, unless otherwise 

 decreed, belong to those tracts of ground over which or between which 

 they flow, in proportion to the length of bank occupied by each piece 

 of ground. 



It has been repeatedly proposed to turn over to the state or province 

 all the fisheries, or at least those in the so-called public waters in 



