RIVER FISHERIES. IOI 



SECT. 2. Whoever shall take or catch any fish called black bass 

 in any of the ponds within the limits of this Commonwealth, from 

 the first day of December to the first day of June, or at any time, 

 except with hook and line, shall forfeit a sum of not less tl.an two 

 nor more than twenty dollars for each offence, to be recovered by 

 prosecution before any court competent to try the same. 



SECT. 3. In all prosecutions for forfeitures under the provisions 

 of this act, the fact of sale, purchase, or possession shall be evidence 

 that the trout or black bass so sold, purchased, or had in possession, 

 were taken within this state. [Approved May 22, 186G. 



[CHAP. 344.] 

 An Act to regulate Fisheries. 



Be it enacted, 8fc., as follows : 



SECT. 1. The commissioners of fisheries appointed under chapter 

 two hundred and thirty-eight of the acts of the year eighteen hundred 

 and sixty-six, in addition to their powers and duties under said act, 

 are hereby authorized to examine all the dams upon rivers in this 

 Commonwealth over and around which the proprietors are now re- 

 quired by law to keep and maintain fish-ways, and said commission- 

 ers shall determine whether said fish-ways are .suitable and sufficient 

 for the passage of such fish as are found in said rivers ; and if, after 

 inspection, the said commissioners shall fi;id said fish-ways are un- 

 suitable or insufficient for the passage of fish, or are out of repair, 

 or are not kept open at suitable times, they shall give notice to the 

 proprietors of said dams of any defect in their fish-ways, or that the 

 fish-ways are not kept open the proper time. And said commission- 

 ers shall further, in writing, prescribe the times for keeping open and 

 unobstructed said fish-ways, and what repairs may be necessary, and 

 what changes, if any, should be made for improving said fish-ways. 



SECT. 2. Any person or corporation who shall neglect or refuse to 

 keep open or maintain any fish-way at the times prescribed by the 

 commissioners under this act, shall forfeit the sum of fifty dollars for 

 each day's neglect or refusal so to keep open or maintain said fish- 

 way, to be recovered by indictment in the county where said dam, 

 or any part thereof, is situated, one-half to the use of the complain- 

 ant and the other half to the use of the Commonwealth. 



SECT. 3. There shall be appropriated and paid out of the treasury 

 of the Commonwealth a sum not exceeding ten thousand dollars, to 

 defray the expenses of the commissions, first, in restocking the rivers 

 of Massachusetts with shad, salmon, and alewives ; second, in re- 

 stocking the ponds in this Commonwealth, for the purpose of propa- 

 gating black bass and other fish. [Approved June 1, 1867. 



