122 ABSTRACT OF EVIDENCE 



tions committed in the months of October, Novem- 

 ber, December, and January. Fish are attracted 



NOTES. 



something. If this net be prohibited in close time, and 

 that close is extended to the end of March, this net can 

 do no harm. It is allowed to be only injurious when the 

 bottom rope is drawn over the spawning beds, as it then 

 injures or destroys the nests of eggs by removing the sand 

 by which they are covered. If this net is not allowed to 

 be used until after the ova are fructified into animation, 

 and if it be made with the legal mesh, it can do no mischief, 

 as all the fry and unsizeable fish will escape; then extend 

 the close time to the end of March, and theie is an end to 

 all possible objection to the net and coble. If this should 

 not be deemed sufficient protection for the spawn beds, 

 prohibit the use of it to one month longer, at all places 

 beyond the flow of the tide. 



3. As to the grampuses, porpoises, and seals ; in my 

 opinion it is quite easy to catch all these rapacious monsters 

 when in an estuary or river ; and as their depredations are 

 so extensive, the experiment would be well worth the ex- 

 pence, and the produce of the animals themselves would 

 largely contribute to defray it. 



4. As to cruives ; this engine I take to be what we call 

 fish locks, or something of that nature, of which there are 

 a most ingenious variety, all equally destructive ; in law a 

 nuisance, in fact an engine whose effect is annihilation, and 

 a rank piece of injustice to those who have fisheries above 

 them, as they prevent the fish from having a free passage, 

 capturing all those which go up, and obstructing those 

 above from going down. Whilst these cruives or fish 

 trap* are tolerated, the fisheries can never prosper. I have 



* 5 



