100 ON THE CHANNEL-FISHERIES. 



for every such offence the sum of 20/., to be re- 

 covered and levied by distress and sale, as therein 

 mentioned. And the said act directed the said 

 penalties to be divided between the informer and the 

 poor ; and the said nets to be burnt. And by the 

 seventh section of the said act, "Jbr the further 

 preservation of the said fry qfjish," it was enacted, 

 that if any person bring to shore in England, sell, 

 offer, or expose to sale, or exchange for goods, any 

 unsizeable fish, viz. : bret, turbot, brill, or pearl, 

 codlin, whiting, mullet, bass, plaice, soles, or 

 flounders, which shall not be of the several lengths 

 or sizes following, from the eyes to the utmost extent 

 of the tail, viz. : every bret or turbot, 16 inches ; 

 every brill or pearl, 14 inches ; every codlin, 12 

 inches ; every whiting, six inches ; every bass and 

 mullet, 12 inches ; every sole, eight inches ; every 

 plaice or dab, eight inches ; and every flounder, 

 seven inches ; every person so offending shall for- 

 feit such unsizeable fish so brought on shore, sold, 

 offered, or exposed to sale, or exchanged & aforesaid, 

 as in the said act mentioned, together with the 

 sum of 20^., to be levied as therein mentioned; 

 and, in default of payment, to be sent to the com- 

 mon gaol of the county, there to be severely whipt 

 and kept to hard labour for six days, and not longer 

 than fourteen days."* 



* This act, as has been already observed, was passed to preserve 

 the fry o/Jish ; and yet, without incurring its penalties, the fry of 

 fish are destroyed with the most unbounded latitude. The fisher- 

 men should be prohibited from keeping such unsizeable fish, 



