INLAND FISHERIES. 371 



Sect. 63. A cit}' or town may open ditches, sluiceways, or canals, 

 into an}' pond within its limits, for the introduction and propagati-m 

 of herrings or alewives. and for the creation of fisheries for the same ; 

 and the land for opening such ditches, sluiceways, or canals within 

 such cit}' or town ma^' be taken according to the provisions of the 

 statutes which regulate and limit the taking of land for highways. 



Sect. 64. A city or town creating such fishery shall own the 

 same, and may make an}^ pi'oper regulations concerning it, and may 

 lease it for a period not exceeding five years, upon such terms as may 

 be agreed upon. And a town may lease for a like period, and upon 

 like terms, any fishery now owned by it, or any public fishery which 

 has heretofore been i-egulated and controlled by such town. 



Sect. 65. Whoever takes, kills, or hauls on shore any herrings or 

 alewives in a fishery created by a city or town, without the permission 

 of such city or town or of its lessees, or in a fishery created by a 

 corporation without the permission of such corporation, shall forfeit 

 not less than five nor more than fifty dollars. 



Sect. 66. All prosecutions under the preceding section shall be 

 instituted within thirty days from the commission of the oflence. 



Sect. 67. Nothing contained in the four preceding sections shall 

 be held to impair the rights of any person under any law passed 

 before the twenty-fifth day of April in the year eighteen hundred and 

 sixty-six, or to deprive any person of any right under any contract 

 then existing, or to authorize a city or town to enter upon or build 

 canals or sluiceways into a pond which is the private property of an 

 individual or corporation. 



Sect. 68. The mayor and aldermen of cities and the selectmen 

 of towns, when so instructed bj' their cities and towns, may control 

 and regulate the taking of eels, clams, quahaugs, and scallops within 

 the same, including ponds which are now or may hereafter be leased 

 by the commissioners ; and may grant permits prescribing the times 

 and methods of taking eels and the shell-fish above named within 

 such cities and towns, and make such other regulations in regard to 

 said fisheries as they may deem expedient. But any inhabitant of 

 the commonwealth, without such permit, may take, from the waters 

 of his own or any other city or town, eels and the shell-fish above 

 named for his own family use ; and may take from the waters of his 

 own city or town any of the shell-fish above named for bait, not 

 exceeding three bushels, including shells, in any one day, but subject 

 nevertheless to the general rules prescribed by the mayor and aider- 

 men and selectmen respectively as to the times and methods of taking 

 such fish. Nothing herein contained shall be construed as allowing 

 the taking of any kind of fish in violation of section thirty-four or 

 thirty-five. 



