FISHERMEN AND FISHERIES. 151 



more forcibly illustrate the change which has taken place 

 in the condition of the fisheries of the Thames since the 

 period when the Lord Mayor was first called upon to 

 preserve the fry of salmon and all kinds of fish, unless it 

 be the fact that the principal fishing industry carried on in 

 the Thames is the capture of young sprats, and of the 

 " brood of sea-fish," under the name of whitebait. The 

 extermination of salmon in the Thames illustrates a point 

 in the relation of the State towards the fisheries, which will 

 be referred to later on. 



The Act I Eliz. c. 17 went a step further than any of its Preservation 



of sea fish. 



predecessors. After reciting that the " spawn, fry, and 

 young brood of eels, salmons, pikes, and of all other fish, 

 hath been much destroyed . . . insomuch that in divers 

 places they feed swine and dogs with the fry and spawn of 

 fish, and otherwise, lamentable and horrible to be reported, 

 destroy the same," it prohibited the taking or killing of 

 fry of any kind " in any straits, streams, brooks, rivers, Fry and 



young fish. 



fresh or salt, within this realm ; it fixed a minimum size 

 for pike, salmon, trout, and barbel ; and it prohibited the 

 use of nets with a mesh less than " two inches and a half 

 broad," except for smelts and other small fish. 



A yet further advance in protective legislation was made 

 by the Act 3 Jas. I. c. 12, which (i) forbade the erection of 

 " wears along the seashore, or in any haven, harbour, or 

 creek, or within five miles of the mouth of any haven or 

 creek ; " (2) prohibited generally the capture of the fry, 

 spawn, or brood of sea fish of any kind ; and (3) directed 

 that no "draw-net or drag-net under three inches meash, Mesh of nets, 

 viz., one inch and a half from knot to knot," should be used 

 within five miles of the mouth of any haven or creek. The 

 Act i Geo. I. Stat 2, c. 18, extended this last provision by 

 prohibiting the "use at sea upon the coast of England" 



