FISHERY LAWS 119 



in territorial waters. 1 The vessels told off to guard 

 the fisheries are entrusted with the supervision of the 

 vessels of all nationalities. It is to be regretted that 

 they are not as severe upon foreigners as the latter 

 have been to the French. The decree of May 10, 

 1862, also determined the size of the meshes of the 

 nets to be used, on the following lines: Large trawl, 

 a mesh n inch wide (on the side) ; small trawl, mesh 

 of the net, i inch (to be exact, -98 of an inch) ; mesh 

 of the pocket, ri8 inches; line, '39 of an inch in 

 circumference. It prohibited the capture, salting, pur- 

 chase, sale, transport, or use for any purpose whatever 

 of fish below the adult stage ; that is to say, less than 

 10 centimetres (3*937 inches) in length, measured from 

 the eye to the root of the tail. 



The service of the fisheries police was instituted by 

 the decree of July 4, 1853, and reorganised by the 

 decree of June 16, 1908. The service is commanded 

 by the maritime prefects, whose authority devolves 

 upon the general commissaries and chefs de service. 

 Under the orders of these superior administrators the 



1 A curious protest was presented by the fishers of Trouville and 

 Villerville to the Congress of Maritime Fisheries at Dieppe (1908). 

 " The deep-sea fishers of the neighbourhood of Trouville, consider- 

 ing that the dragging of the trawl over the banks, liable to maintain 

 the reproduction of the sedentary species, is indispensable to the 

 clearing of these banks, in other words to their culture; that 

 trawling has the effect of causing to rise from the bottom the 

 nourishment which is proper to nearly all the species frequenting 

 our territorial waters, and even to herrings, sardines, &c. . . . ; 

 that the laws now in force are too Draconian in respect of fishermen 

 caught using the large trawl-net within the three-mile limit ... in 

 the sense that it deprives them, by the confiscation of all their 

 fishing gear, of their instruments of labour . . . express the desire 

 that the decree of May 10, 1862, shall be modified in the direction 

 indicated." 



