FORBIDDEN INSTRUMENTS. 223 



Lights must not be used for catching salmon, neither must 

 snares, spears and similar instruments (but a gaff may 

 be used as an auxiliary to angling, except at seasons when 

 it is forbidden by the local conservators). 1 The use of 

 " otters " is also forbidden. 2 Fish roe must .not be used as 

 bait, or bought or sold ; and even the possession of it, 

 except for scientific purposes, and with the consent in 

 writing of the conservators in a district for which a board of 

 conservators is established, 3 is unlawful. 4 These prohibi- 

 tions apply to fishing for trout and char within the limits 

 of any fishery district for which there are conservators, 5 

 and everywhere else in England, except in the counties of 

 Norfolk and Suffolk and the city of Norwich, 6 where the 

 fisheries are regulated by a special Board of Conservators 

 under a local Act of iS//. 7 The penalties are fines up to a 

 maximum of 5, and forfeiture of illegal instruments ; on a 

 third conviction, imprisonment with hard labour up to six 

 months may be inflicted, and on a second conviction, the 

 offender's fishing licence, if he has one, must be forfeited. 8 



Net fishing is allowed (subject to the restrictions men- 

 tioned under the foregoing head in the neighbourhood of 

 weirs) only on condition of the meshes being of certain 

 minimum dimensions, 9 and a seine or draft net must not 

 be shot within 100 yards of the line of shot of another 



1 1873, s. 39, sub-s. (9). 



2 1873, s. 18. An "otter" is a piece of wood used for running out 

 baits. 3 1865, s. 60. 



4 1861, ss. 8, 9. 6 1865, s. 64. 



6 Freshwater Fisheries Act, 1878, ss. 3 and 5. 



7 40 & 41 Viet. c. xcviii. 8 1865, s. 56. 



9 " Two inches in extension from knot to knot (the measurement to 

 be made on each side of the square) or eight inches measured round 

 each mesh when wet : " 1861, s. 10 ; but by 1873, s - 39> conservators 

 may fix the minimum lawful size between the limits of i \ and 2% inches. 



