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ON THE CHANNEL-FISHERIES. 69 



Cornwall or Devon, with any drill net, trammel, 

 or stream-net or nets, or any other nets of that 

 sort or kind, unless it were at the distance of one 

 league and a half at least from the respective 

 shores, upon the penalty of forfeiture of the said 

 nets so employed, or the full value thereof, and 

 one month's imprisonment without bail or main- 

 " prize." 



I think that there can be little doubt, but that 

 among " the divers pernicious disorders and abuses 

 " crept in by the licentiousness of the times," in 

 contemplation of the legislature on the passing of 

 this act, was the destruction of the young fry and 

 brood of fish in the shallows, which made it neces- 

 sary that these fishing trammel-nets or trawl-nets 

 should keep a league and a half from the shore ; in- 

 stead of which, and in utter disregard of the act, 

 they sweep the bays, shores, and creeks with their 

 trawls, destroying every thing that comes into them, 

 both great and small, old and young. 



This is a very serious evil, and is one great cause 

 of the scarcity of the best sorts of channel -fish ; yet 

 it is remediless as the law now stands, because no 

 prosecution can be enforced under it but by an 

 information at the suit of the King's Attorney- 

 General, where the expenses and difficulties are so 

 great that no man will interfere. But great as this 

 evil is, amu ch greater one remains to be stated, for 

 the 1 Geo. I. c. 28. entitled "An Act," among other 

 things, "for the Preservation of the Fry of Fish," 

 after reciting by the 4th sect. " that whereas of 



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