26 THE PISHERIES LAWS. 



CHAPTER III. 



THE EISHERIES LAWS. 



Until the year 1865 no attempt had been made to bring the 

 fisheries under legislative enactment. With splendid disre- 

 gard of future requirements, seine-hauling had been carried 

 on at will with nets of all lengths, and composed of meshes 

 so small that the resultant destruction began to tell seriously 

 on the supply and to attract public attention. Fishermen 

 could at that time follow their avocations only in Port Jack- 

 son, Botany, George's Ptiver, and Broken Bay. Waters 

 further afield, such as Lake Macquarie, Port Stephens, Lake 

 Illawarra, &c., were, through the absence of facilities for 

 transit, completely closed to them, and to such an extent 

 were the available waters becoming depopulated, that some' 

 of the more intelligent fishermen, at last awaking to the posi- 

 tion, and fearing that the future prosecution of their calling 

 was in danger, joined with the public voice in seeking legis- 

 lative protection. The aid of Mr. PJchard Driver, junior, a 

 Member of the Legislative Assembly, was invoked to bring 

 the matter before Parliament. The result was a reference 

 of it to a Select Committee of the House for consideration. 

 The witnesses, many of whom were practical fishermen, all 

 declared to the absolute necessity for protection to the 

 fisheries. The Committee elicited from witnesses that it was 

 quite the general custom for fishermen to work with nets 

 composed of a three-quarters of an inch mesh, the eftect of 

 which was to land and destroy enormous quantities of fry, and 

 that to a very large extent the depletion of the fishing- grounds 

 was due to that practice. It was also shown that a still more 

 complete mode of spoliation had been in operation, and that 

 was a system popularly known as " stalling." It consisted 

 of shooting at high tide a net of some 250 to 300 or more 

 of fathoms across a shallow bay or around flats, and 

 leaving it until the receding tide had left the enclosure 

 dry. By this means tons upon tons of fish were destroyed, 



