FISHERMEN AND FISHERIES. 245 



speak of English sea fishery legislation as distinct from 

 legislation for Scotland on the same subject. 



It may be well also to remember that the main principles 

 affecting the United Kingdom are the same throughout, 

 and that distinct legislation for distinct portions of it in no 

 case has for its object the variation of the principles them- 

 selves. The only variation consists in the difference in the 

 means used for producing for the same principles their 

 intended result ; and these means necessarily vary according 

 to the different necessities of different districts. 



There is a principle that boats must render their identity 

 readily discernible, and for this reason they are registered 

 and lettered. If in Scotland a Fishery Board long super- 

 vised registration, it is unnecessary for the mere sake 

 of uniformity to transfer that duty to the collectors of 

 customs, who, in England, undertake similar supervision. 



Again, there is a principle that immature fish should not 

 be unnecessarily destroyed. The unintentionally iniquitous 

 legislation of 1860 enforced a five months' close time for 

 herrings on the West of Scotland. The ostensible object of 

 this Act, before its promotion was detected to be a mere 

 trade scheme, had in view the worthy desire to enable 

 small fish to reach the Minch, where they might thrive 

 undisturbed and attain full size. The Act of 1843, ' m order 

 to protect small fish in the deep sea off the English coast, 

 restricted the size of meshes. Both restrictions have been 

 abolished (with the exception of an unenforced close time 

 in the territorial waters below Ardnamurchan), but both 

 endeavoured to promote the same principle by means 

 varied in different localities. In the land-locked bays of 

 Scotland and the inland seas of the Hebrides it was 

 thought feasible to directly arrest the fishermen themselves 

 when they plied their calling in close time ; but to check 



