252 REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 



that by protecting only the female lobsters the purpose of the law with 

 regard to the preservation of the species will be just as fully answered 

 as by protecting both sexes during the same period of time. The objec- 

 tion may be raised that it will be difficult to distinguish between a 

 female without outside roe and a male ; but the difference of sex is so 

 great that a fisherman may be able to tell it at the first glance. Nor 

 would he only protect those lobsters which have outside roe, as this may 

 easily be scraped off. Irregularities of the normal sexual relations will 

 be of very little importance, as most of the females which have been 

 protected will be caught by the fishermen when the season of protection 

 is over, as they go but a short distance from the place where they stay. 

 The objection made to the law that it would force the fishermen to 

 return the products of the sea to it, he considers to be of great import- 

 ance ; but he hoped that they would see what a great risk they ran by 

 unlawful fishing, and be convinced that protection will in the long run 

 benefit their trade. 



From the above it will be seen that, with the exception of the gov- 

 ernors of Jarlsberg and Laurvig and two of the lobster-agents, all local 

 authorities and competent men were in favor of the opinion that the 

 decrease in the number of lobsters noticed during the last few years 

 had been caused by too extensive fishing during that part of summer 

 when the lobster spawns, and had considered a law prohibiting lobster- 

 fishing duriug a certain period of summer and autumn as the only 

 effective means of protecting this important animal. But others, we 

 see, wished to have the protection extended from June or May till 

 October; others only from July to September; and others, again, only to 

 August and September. Both in Swedeu and Heligoland there are laws 

 prohibiting the catching and selling of lobsters from July 1 till Septem- 

 ber 15, and in Scotland it is forbidden, under a penalty of £5 each, to 

 catch lobsters from June 1 till September 1 ; and in England no lobster 

 is allowed to be sold which measures less than 8 inches. The govern- 

 ment also considered that protection during the season of the year when 

 the hatching is chiefly going on would answer the purpose, and that it 

 could be more easily maintained than a law prohibiting the fishing and 

 selling of lobsters below a certain size. As the young are chiefly hatched 

 during the month of August, but also during Juty and September, the 

 government thought that August should be included in every close 

 season, while it should be left to the local authorities, with royal 

 approbation, to extend this legal season of protection to July and Sep- 

 tember, in accordance with the local circumstances of every district. 

 By adopting these measures, the trade would not be restricted to any 

 serious extent. This was also granted by the commissioners of the 

 English lobster-companies, and, as far as the fishermen are affected, they 

 can easily find work in nearly every part of the kingdom during August, 

 while, on the other hand, the protection of lobsters during a certain 

 period will make the fisheries all the more productive during the months 



