INLAND FISHERIES. 143 



and to shut and close the same up, as the^^ may think expedient, and 

 also to open and clear the passage-ways and streams leading from 

 the said pond, for the purpose of enabling 3'oung fish to pass down 

 from the said pond, from the tenth day of April to the last day of 

 November, in every year ; and for this purpose the said committees, 

 or either of them, or any member thereof, shall have authority to go 

 on the land of auj' person through which the said streams run, or on 

 which such land ma}' be bounded, without being considered as tres- 

 passers ; and any person who shall molest or hinder the said com- 

 mittees, or either of the members thereof, in the execution of this part 

 of their office or shall obstruct the said sluice-way or passages, other- 

 wise than may be allowed by said committee or committees, he or she 

 shall forfeit and pa}' a sum not exceeding fifty dollars nor less than five 

 dollars, to be recovered and appropriated in the same manner as 

 forfeitures and penalties for the breach of the act entitled " An Act 

 for the preservation of the fish called alewives, in their passage up the 

 rivers and streams leading through the towns of Salem and Danvers, 

 in the county of Essex, and for the regulating the taking said fish in 

 said streams, and for repealing all laws heretofore passed for regu- 

 lating the fishery in said streams and rivers," are recovered and 

 appropriated : j^i'ovided, that this act shall not give the said com- 

 mittees, or either of them, any new powers and privileges concerning 

 the mills, or the sluice or passages ways at the mills on the said 

 streams, after the first day of June in each year, — [February 27, 

 1815. 



Ax Act to regulate the Fisheries in the Town of Yarmouth. 



1814, 134. Sect. 1. Be it enacted, That from and after the pass- 

 ing of this act, the town of Yarmouth shall be, and hereby are em- 

 powered and directed, at their meeting for the choice of town officers, 

 in March or April annually, to choose three or more persons, being 

 freeholders in the said town, to see that this act be duly observed ; 

 and each person so chosen shall be sworn faithfully to discharge the 

 duties required of him by this act ; and the said committee shall meet 

 together annually, on or before the twentieth day of April, and at 

 such time and place as they, or a majority- of them shall appoint ; and 

 the major part of the committee present at such meeting are hereby 

 authorized and empowered to order the times, places and manner in 

 which it may be lawful to take any of the fish called herring, alewives, 

 perch and eels in said town ; and the said committee, or a majorit}'^ of 

 them, are hereby fully authorized and empowered to cause the natural . 

 course of the streams through which the said fish pass to be kept open 

 and without obstruction, to remove such as may be found therein, 

 and to make the said passage-ways wider or deeper, if they shall 



