THE INLAND WATEUS FISnEKIES. 21 



So far reference has been made more especially to the 

 fishes of the western waters. Those of the eastern rivers are 

 of a less exclusively fresh-water character. The principal 

 is the perch {Lates colonorwii) frequently found in salt- 

 water ; the mullet {3Iiigil dobula) visiting the sea annually 

 after attaining the adult state ; also the eel {Anguilla 

 ausf rails) and the herring {Clupea novce hollandicc) are all 

 frequently found in the salt water. These four species are 

 in all the rivers of the east coast, and are all good fish. In 

 the Clarence and Richmond Rivers there are found an 

 additional mullet {Mugil petardi), an additional perch 

 (Lates curtus), and, what is considered remarkable, two of the 

 fishes of the Murray system, the cod and the cat-fish. 

 The fact of the cod being found in the Clarence seems to 

 offer proof that its acclimatisation to all the eastern rivers, a 

 point at one time very much doubted, is well within 

 the bounds of possibility. These, with a few other species 

 of quite minor importance, may be said to constitute the 

 whole of the fresh-water fish faun'a of New South 

 Wales. The list is not a long one, and it will be readily 

 understood that minute legislation to protect these fisheries 

 did not seem to be needed, and so the " Fisheries Act, 1881," 

 did not enter largely into its regulation ; it simply prescribed 

 the size of mesh to be used in netting fish, and stipulated 

 that the net should not be set wholly across a stream. It 

 gave no power to close waters against the use of fishing-nets, 

 nor did it require fishermen to take out licenses or ensure 

 the protection of introduced fish. 



The enormous drain which took place in supplying the 

 Victorian market with cod from the Murray at last brought 

 the importance attaching to inland fisheries under public 

 notice, and resulted in Mr. J. M. Chanter, M.P., introducing 

 a Bill to Parliament which eventuated in the enactment of 

 the "Inland Waters Eisheries Act, 1887." This Act cured 

 some of the evils that had been complained of ; it 

 legalised the closing of waters against net-fishing, enlarged 

 the size of the mesh to be used, gave protection to non- 

 indigenous fish, and in other ways assisted in improving the 

 fisheries. Until, however, some arrangement shall have 

 been agreed upon by the two colonies — Victoria and New 

 South Wales — there will always be a difficulty about pro- 

 tiBcting fish in the Murray Hiver, This river being wholly 

 within the Colony of * New South Wales, so the protection 



