HERRING FISHERIES. 241 



canvas, hide, or other material, by which unsizeable and 

 young fish may be taken or destroyed." Further special 

 prohibitions may be established by means of by-laws. 1 



It must be remembered that within three miles of the 

 coast fishermen who use nets or other instruments capable 

 of catching salmon may come under the Salmon Fishery 

 Acts. This has given rise to some difficulties, especially on 

 the Welsh coast. 2 



2. Scottish Herring Fisheries. 



The law of Scotland as to the herring fishery is con- 

 tained in a number of statutes of various dates, from 1808 

 to i882. 3 The earlier ones created a system of bounties, 

 to which a system of official certificate of the herrings 

 properly taken and cured was incidental 4 ; and the system 

 of certifying the casks of cured herrings by an official brand 

 is still in force. All that is left of the bounties is a com- 

 paratively small annual grant for repairs of fishing-boats ; 

 and the official brand is sought merely as a kind of trade- 

 mark, for which purpose it is found useful in the export 

 trade. Fishermen whose business is not large enough 

 to set up a private brand of their own which could become 

 known in the market can by means of the Government 

 mark, if their wares are up to the standard quality, put 



1 5 & 6 Viet. c. 1 06, ss. 6-10, 44 & 45 Viet. c. 66 (close time for 

 pollen). 



2 1 8th Annual Report of the Inspectors of Salmon Fisheries, 1879, 

 Appendix I. to Mr. Walpole's Report. 



3 The Acts ought to have been consolidated long ago : the older 

 ones exist in a sort of living death, being repealed not specifically, but 

 "in so far as necessary to give effect to," or so far as inconsistent 

 with, the later Acts. These things are not necessarily the draftsman's 

 or anybody's fault ; but they do no credit Jo the law. 



4 48 Geo. 3, c. no, s. 35. 



VOL. I. H. R 



