ON THE CHANNEL-FISHERIES. 73 



crying an evil ; an evil which, without a cure, 

 will in a few years destroy the little that remains of 

 our channel fishery. 



There is also a considerable difficulty to convict 

 under the Act of George I. for taking unsizeable 

 fish ; and therefore it is so much evaded, as to be 

 quite useless and inoperative. The avowed object 

 of the Act, as stated in the preamble, is to preserve 

 the fry of fish ; and yet the fry of fish are des- 

 troyed to the greatest extent. The spirit of the Act 

 is violated in every part ; and yet the innovators 

 commit no legal offence. The words of the Act are, 

 " bring to shore , sell, offer to sell, or exchange." 

 The fishermen do neither; and yet they infringe 

 upon the spirit, the true intent and meaning of the 

 Act in every part. Such as are so small as not to 

 be saleable, the fishermen keep and use themselves, 

 for what they call tea Jlsh. The fish that are so 

 small as to be good for nothing, are thrown into the 

 sea. So that they neither " bring to shore, sett, 

 " offer to sell, or exchange them; 99 and yet they 

 violate the spirit of the Act in every respect. The 

 interest of these fishermen would be much better 

 promoted by attending to the beneficial and well- 

 meaning provisions of this and the former Acts, 

 than by using such destructive nets, and fishing 

 in prohibited situations, which disturb the resorts 

 of the old breeding fish, and are so detrimental to 

 the young fry. 



This appears to me to be an interesting and 

 important subject, not only from the object of the 



