92 



NOTES. 



SEA COASTS AND ESTUARIES. The shores of the sea, or of a navigable 

 river, do not belong, in presumption of law, to the owner of the adjoin- 

 ing land, whose right only extends to the edge of the high-water mark 

 of the ordinary or neap tides, and can extend to the low-water mark 

 only by grant beyond time of memory, or by prescription. 



The shore is that part of the land adjacent to the sea, which is alter- 

 nately covered and left dry by the ordinary flux and reflux of the tides. 

 In other words, the rights of the proprietor of the adjoining land do 

 not extend beyond the highest ripple of the ordinary tide. 



So jealous is the law of the rights of the public over the soil and 

 waters of the sea, and its branches, that every one may fish in the sea, 

 of common right, though it flows on the soil of another, and may 

 justify going on the land adjoining the sea to fish, ' for this is for the 

 commonwealth, and for the sustenance of many, and is the common 

 law.'* 



The third clause of 5 & 6 Vic., c. 106, makes it lawful for fishermen 

 to enter upon 'all such beaches, strands, and wastes, on or adjoining 

 the sea shore or any estuary, as may be necessary for the purpose of 

 Sea Fishing. The nineteenth section empowers proprietors and lessees 

 of lands adjoining the sea shore or any estuary, although not possess- 

 ing a ' several' fishery, to erect stake or other fixed nets, ' saving to 

 the subjects of this realm the free and full exercise and enjoyment of 

 all other rights of fishing/ An encroachment on ancient common law 

 was therefore made by this section of the Act. The eighteenth section 

 of the Act, after reciting that ' whereas doubts-^ exist with respect to the 



were given to search for salmon spears, or 'lysters,' which were declared illegal. 

 These barbarous weapons cause the decrease of the Salmon more than other 

 instruments. They are used principally by night poachers, to kill fish on the 

 spawning beds. 



The STROKEHAUL consists generally of three hooks tied back to back on a 

 weight. This is thrown into the water, and when dragging along, the hooks 

 strike into the fish. It is understood often to maim more than it takes. ' Stroke- 

 hauling' is practised in some rivers by means of a triangle of large hooks 

 attached to a thick line, with a large rod and wheel, and is used above the tide- 

 way. 



The OTTER is a board about a yard long, four inches deep, and half an inch 

 thick, loaded at one end, with a line attached to it at a certain point, to enable 

 it, by the traction of the boat, to preserve a parallel course abreast of the boat, 

 or nearly so. The line is generally half a cross-line, with eleven flies, or there- 

 abouts, the droppers of different lengths, the longest nearest the boat. It is 

 used with most success in shoal water, and is nearly as ' killing' an artificial 

 device as the natural enemy of the Salmon from which it takes its name. 



The GAFF, or hook, is not so destructive as the spear, which more seldom 

 misses its aim ; but as it is asserted that more fish are wounded with the spear 

 and gaff than are taken, these implements must be considered 'destructive,' 

 and the use of them might be properly interdicted. 



* MacMahon on the Law of Fishery. Dublin Review, 1841, p. 393. 



f This recital admits the possibility of such means of fishing being illegal. 

 * I think that this statute is a fraud as against a number of persons, whose 

 rights have been unjustly taken from them by it. I think also it was obtained 

 against the rights of persons who have never had any means of defending them- 

 selves before Parliament.' (Evidence of R. Allen, esq., p. 329.) The Commis- 

 sion of 1835 admitted that they did not understand the question. During the 

 progress of the bill, how far the stake-weir owners attended to it, does not alto- 

 gether appear, (see Mr. Alcock's Evidence, p. 490, answer 6,986,) but, on the 

 other side, the cot-fishermen do not seem to have been at all represented. 



