4 IISTLAND FISHEElES COMMISSIONERS' REPORT. 



Section 1, (being a line drawn from Narragansett lower pier to Sea- 

 connet Point) be abolished, and tlie whole coast line of the State be 

 protected; that traps, and above all, heart nets or pounds, should be 

 licensed. Up to the present date no move has been made in the 

 matter by the Honorable General Assembly. The Commissioners of 

 Inland Fisheries are willing and glad to devote a large jjortion of 

 their time and attention to the bay fisheries, for which they receive 

 no pay, and not any very great measure of thanks, but as a mechanic 

 would find it impossible to perform a piece of work witliout suitable 

 tools, so they cannot be expected to accomplish much without suit- 

 able laws to guide and support them. In this connection they beg 

 to call your most earnest attention to the changes they desire made 

 in Chapter 751, (passed March 26, 1879). These changes have been 

 suggested by the observance of the workings of said Chapter 751 for 

 the past two seasons, and unless such changes are made the commis- 

 sioners in the future will hesitate to take the responsibility of ex- 

 pending the money which the present hiw admits in efforts to enforce 

 a law which they feel is inadequate. 

 Chapter 751 reads as follows: 



CHAPTER 751. 



A7i Act in amendment of Chapter 134 of the General Statutes, '"Of Certain 



Fisheries." 



(Passed March 36, 1879.) 



It is enacted by the General Assembly as follows : 



Section 1. There shall be, between the iirst day of May and first day of August 

 in each year, a weekly close-time, extending from Saturday morning at sunrise to 

 Monday morning at sunrise, during which time no fish of any description sliall 

 be taken by weirs, traps or similar contrivances, from the waters covered by a 

 line drawn from Seaconnet Point in a westerly course to the Narragansctt lower 

 pier, and including all the waters above said line. If there be any weir, trap or 

 other stationary contrivances used for the purpose of catching or obstructing the 

 passage of fish in that part thereof where the fish are usually taken, the netting 

 at the mouth of the same shall be floated to the surface of the water so as to effect- 

 ually close the mouth thereof during the weekly close-time, so that during said 

 time the fish may have a free, unobstructed passage; and no device shall be 

 placed in any part of said limits which shall tend to hinder such fish from 

 running up the waters of such river. In case the enclosure where the fish are 



