LEGAL ASPECTS OF FISHERIES 9I 



control over them so long as they shall be owners 

 or occupiers of such land. Licence to be granted 

 only where no public banks or beds at present 

 exist' 



The prosperous condition of shell-fish beds in 

 other countries (notably in France), which have 

 been cultivated by the labour of many lessees or 

 grantees, justifies the belief, as may be gathered 

 from the Fishery Board's Report, from which 

 quotation has just been made, that the system is 

 applicable to the depleted or declining mussel 

 beds of our own country, with equal prospects 

 of success. It therefore becomes necessary to 

 develop such methods of leasing as will be at 

 once simple and cheap, while producing the 

 greatest benefit both to the lessee and to the 

 country. 



The hesitancy shown by fishermen and others, 

 both in Scotland and Ireland, in taking advantage 

 of the facilities now offered, seems largely to 

 result from a lack of confidence in the personal 

 advantages to be gained from culture, as well as 

 from a distrust of the available protection against 

 a long established custom of promiscuous mussel- 

 lifting. 



In the opinion of the writer, this condition will 



