234 TH E FISHERY LA WS. 



subject to special rules are the Thames 1 and the Severn. In 

 a summary account like the present it is of course impossible 

 to go into these matters ; the working of local rules, for the 

 rest, is useful to be known only where they are in force, and 

 is better ascertained there than anywhere else. It may 

 be just worth while to mention that the rules of the Thames 

 Conservancy as to close times extend to all river fish 

 including eels, though not by name, as the Court of Common 

 Pleas decided in 1871. Almost all the rivers of any 

 importance in England are now either included in fishery 

 districts or under special local Acts. The chief exceptions 

 are in the north the Derwent of Cumberland, and in the 

 south the Itchen. Others are in the north-west the 

 Mersey, long since hopelessly destroyed as a fish river, and 

 in the east the Witham, Welland and Great Ouse, which 

 have never been salmon rivers at all. Roughly speaking, a 

 line following the valleys of the Trent and the three several 

 Avons of Gloucestershire, Somersetshire and Hants, will 

 leave to its north and west the part of England where 

 fishery districts are the rule, to the south and east that 

 where they are the exception. 



Thus much as to the laws for the general protection of 

 inland fisheries in England. A few enactments give par- 

 ticular protection or remedies to the owners of private 

 fisheries against trespassers. Taking fish unlawfully in 

 private waters is a misdemeanour punishable by fine, and 

 a trespassing fisherman's rod, net or other tackle may 

 be seized by the owner of the land or fishery ; but an 

 angler against whom this right is exercised in the day- 

 time escapes any further penalty. 2 There used to be in 



1 The Thames Conservators, I need hardly add, are charged with a 

 number of matters of public interest, of which fishery regulation is only 

 one. 2 24 & 25 Viet. c. 96, ss. 24, 25. 



