NORWEGIAN LOBSTER-FISHERY AND ITS HISTORY. 253 



when fishing is allowed. With regard to the other objections to limit- 

 ing the fisheries during the summer months, viz, that in the districts of 

 Eomsdal, Jarlsberg, and Laurvig they are only carried on from the 

 beginning of spring or summer till some time in fall, the government 

 remarked that this could scarcely be caused by any special arrangements 

 of the lobsters on these parts of the coast, but is a natural consequence 

 of the circumstance that the fishermen in the district of Eomsdal during 

 spring and autumn are employed in the great fisheries, while in the dis- 

 tricts of Jarlsberg and Laurvig this is caused by the natural hinderauces of 

 ice and storms during spriug and autumn. But especially in these dis- 

 tricts a law prohibiting fishing during the mouth of August could not 

 limit this trade very much, compared with the beneficial consequences 

 which such a law would have. The government thought that the pro- 

 hibition should extend both to male and female lobsters, which opinion 

 was finally also shared by Easch. The government also proposed that 

 the law forbidding the export of lobsters should extend the time when 

 export was not allowed eight days beyond the end of the close season, 

 so as to enable the fishermen to fish up to the very commencement of 

 the close season. 



On January 26, 1848, the king signed the following proposition for a, 

 law for the protection of lobsters, to be laid before the Storthing during 

 its next session : 



" We, Oscar, &c, make known : 



"For some time complaints have been made that the number of lob- 

 sters on the coasts of the kingdom has decreased considerably, espe- 

 cially since the year 1830. Competent men have been consulted as to 

 the possible causes of this phenomenon, as likewise as to the means by 

 which the lobster might be preserved, and a royal proposition for a law 

 forbidding the catching or export of lobsters measuring less than 8 

 inches in length was laid before the Storthing, but was not passed. Ee- 

 newed complaints of the great decrease in the number of lobsters have 

 recently come from several parts of the country, petitions have been 

 sent in asking that the catching of lobsters at certain seasons of the 

 year might be forbidden, and from the information received on this 

 point it has been considered absolutely necessary, for the preservation 

 of the lobster, to fix by law a certain season of protection for this ma- 

 rine auimal. 



" His Majesty would therefore invite the attention of the Storthing of 

 the kingdom of Norway to this subject, and ask them to pass a law re- 

 garding the protection of lobsters, in accordance with the accompanying 

 draft : 



"DRAFT OF A LAW REGARDING THE PROTECTION OF LOBSTERS. 



" 1. It shall be forbidden to catch or sell lobsters during the month 

 of August. 



