372 



known him for some years as a practical fisherman, and 

 he was sure a better chairman could not have been selected. 



Mr. SAVILLE KENT seconded the motion, which was 

 carried unanimously. 



The CHAIRMAN said he could assure the Conference 

 it had given him great pleasure to be present that day, 

 because this question of crustaceans was one which must 

 interest every one. The lobster and crab fisheries had 

 always had a peculiar interest to him, because it was 

 essentially a fishery for poor men. The crabbers generally 

 worked with their own hands almost, and in their own 

 little boats, and were exposed to almost as hard work 

 as any toiler of the sea, so that anything which could 

 be done to protect their interests, or increase the supply 

 of this fish, would be most valuable to the fishing com- 

 munity. With regard to what had been said about legal 

 interference, he might say that in 1877 an Act of Parlia- 

 ment was passed to a certain extent protecting crabs 

 and lobsters, by prohibiting the sale of undersized fish. 

 The question of berried hens, as they were called, was 

 very much discussed when that Act was passed, and he 

 took a great deal of trouble to get information and 

 evidence with regard to them. It was not the cooks 

 alone who were to blame in causing berried hens to be 

 sent so largely into the market, the fishermen themselves 

 doing it, because the lobsters having berries on them 

 were in as good condition for eating as at any time in 

 the year, and if the sale of berried hens were to be 

 prohibited, as Mr. Kent remarked, and as he had heard 

 from the fishermen themselves, they would simply evade 

 the law by brushing off the berries. The size of crabs 

 was another question which was very largely discussed, 

 and, as Mr. Birkbeck could bear him out, the people 



