OYSTER-INDUSTRIES OF THE UNITED STATES 295 



drag is forbidden in the county of Bichrnond, and several of the local 

 fisheries are reserved for the maritime district to which they belong. 



Neic Jersey. — No fishing is allowed in this State from the 1st of May 

 till the 1st of September, under a penalty of $10. Any person convicted 

 of using a drag, or having one on board a vessel on which this instru- 

 ment is usually employed, is liable to a fine of $50. The same penalty 

 is imposed upon the owner of the boat.* 



No one who has resided less than five months in a district can fish 

 for oysters and clams, under a penalty of $20, and the seizure of boat 

 and cargo. A boat-load thus condemned is sold, and half the proceeds 

 of the sale, after expenses have been deducted, are given to the informer 

 and half to the collector of the county in which the offense was com- 

 mitted. 



By a law enacted in 1857 any fisherman convicted of dragging for 

 oysters in Dennis Creek (county of Cape May) was compelled to pay 

 a fine varying from $10 to $100, to have the boats on which the pio- 

 hibited instruments were found confiscated, and to be imprisoned from 

 ten to thirty days. 



Delaware. — Fishing is prohibited in this State from the 1st of May till 

 the 1st of October, under a penalty of $10, and the same fine is inflicted 

 if the drag is used in any of the creeks, bays, or ponds of the State, 

 while the boats employed for the purpose are also confiscated. 



During the regular fishing seasons the oysters must be sorted on the 

 spot, and those not marketable thrown back immediately into the water 

 under a penalty of $10. 



No one not a citizen of the United States can fish in those portions of 

 Delaware Bay belonging to the State without a permit from the clerk of 

 the district. This permit, which is good for a year, can be used only by 

 the boat named in it. Its cost is $50, which is that much profit to the 

 State. Whoever violates this law is punished by a fine of $50, with 

 confiscation of the boat, and all it contains. Any vessel may fish for 

 oysters in the proper season if they are for its own consumption. 



Maryland. — Fishing is interdicted from the 1st of May till the 1st of 

 October, and no one is permitted to engage in the business who has not 

 resided in the State at least twelve months, under a penalty of $100. 

 The fishing-instruments allowed are the rake and the tongs ; the drag, 

 with a very few exceptions, being rigorously prohibited, under a penalty 

 of $100 and the confiscation of the boat. 



The laws also require the prosecution of fishermen who use the seine 

 upon the oyster-banks, as the nets dragged over the beds either carry 

 off a number of mollusks or bury them in the mud. 



A law of 1835 forbids fishing for oysters for the mere purpose of 

 procuring a fertilizer, under a fine ranging from $10 to $50. Finally, 

 no one who is not a resident of the State can fish at less than two miles 

 from the shore, and the punishment for this offense is a fine of from $5 



* Those who reside on the shores of Delaware Bay are exempt from this regulation. 



