Notice of the Shad Fisheries of the River Delaware. 189 
river, and one that merits the fostering care of their respective legis- 
latures. The importance of this species of property was recognized 
at an early period of our history, when fisheries were comparatively 
few, and numerous salutary provisions were enacted, from time to 
time, in relation to them, whose object was to perpetuate their bene- 
fits, and to secure them to their rightful possessors. Amongst others, 
were those protecting the fisheries from unnecessary interruption by 
vessels and rafts, which are expressly required to avoid the seines 
while fishing, and prohibited under severe penalties from anchoring 
within the fishing range of any of the fisheries. But of late years 
the legislatures of these states have been so occupied with political 
maneuvering and management, that they seem to have lost sight of 
many of the best interests of their respective states, and amongst 
others of the fisheries ; for while they are compelled to pay heavy 
taxes into the state inessuty, in common with other real property, 
and are subject to several onerous restrictions, which have been art- 
fully imposed upon them, upon the ground of preserving the breed 
of fish, they have been so far neglected by their legal guardians, 
that the river has of late been virtually thrown open to common 
right, and a class of outlaws—men without a local habitation or a 
name—are now enjoying privileges and rights, without the shadow 
of benefit to the respective states, which laws and usages from time 
immemorial had secured to the riparian proprietor. I allude to the 
gill-net fishermen, who have literally taken forcible possession of the 
river Delaware, under the plea of its being a common highway, and 
have virtually dispossessed the lawful owners of the fisheries of prop- 
erty which they considered as secure, and as much their own as their 
farms. ‘The several right of fishery had been the fruitful source of 
litigation in this country from an early period of its history ; but it 
had been so long recognized by legislative enactments, and confirm- 
ed by the decisions of the highest judicial tribunals, that the question 
seemed to be finally and incontrovertibly settled. This right too 
seemed to be effectually secured to the riparian proprietor, by the 
circumstance that it was necessary, in order to its enjoyment, that a 
foothold should be had on shore, whereupon to manage the seine 
and to secure its contents. This, of course, would subject any per- 
son who attempted to encroach on the fishing rights of another, to 
an action of trespass, and consequently operated as an effectual pro- 
tection. But the ingenuity of man, ever ready to evade restrictions 
that clash with his interests, has devised a mode of fishing by which 
all connexion with the shore is rendered unnecessary, and which, 
