76 COMMISSIONERS OF INLAND FISHERIES. 



impossible for every one of the people of the State personally to 

 exercise the franchise of fishing for lobsters in the public waters of the 

 State, and that if such fishing is to be done for all it must be done by 

 agents in order that the people may receive the benefits thereof. It 

 is also clear that the fishery must be regulated in such a manner as 

 not to exhaust the supply of lobsters; that the mode and method of 

 such regulation is a matter solely for the consideration of the general 

 assembly, and that their action in the premises is not subject to review 

 except upon constitutional grounds. We are of the opinion that in 

 the consideration of the subject the legislature might well follow the 

 precedent established in the constitution in regard to the qualification 

 of electors and make citizenship and residence within the State 

 essential qualifications for the agents to be licensed to fish for lobsters 

 upon the public fishing grounds. The public fishing grounds are 

 limited in extent and area and the territory within such limits is 

 subject to the control of the general assembly. All persons, citizens 

 and aliens, residents and non-residents alike, must obey the laws 

 enacted by the legislature relative thereto. The territorial limits 

 and jurisdiction of the State are defined in Gen. Laws, 1909, cap. 1, 

 §§1 and 2, as follows: "Section 1. The territorial limits of this 

 state extend one marine league from its seashore at high-water mark. 

 When an inlet or arm of the sea does not exceed two marine leagues 

 in width between its headlands, a straight line from one headland to 

 the other is equivalent to the shore line. The boundary of counties 

 bordering on the sea extends to the line of the state, as above defined. 

 Sec. 2. The jurisdiction of the state shall extend to, and embrace, 

 all places within the boundaries thereof, except as to those places 

 that have been ceded to the United States, or have been purchased 

 by the United States with the consent of the state." Over the vast 

 domain without the territorial limits above defined, the state has no 

 jurisdiction and the legislature no control and the hardy fishermen 

 of all countries, whether from New England or the Ionian Isles may 

 freely fish upon the shoals and ledges beneath the boundless sea for 

 the crustaceans that may there be found, without let or hinderance. 



