FISHERMEN AND FISHERIES. 269 



lobster less than 8 inches in length may be possessed or 

 sold. The extension by one inch of saleable lobsters under 

 this Act will be noted, but it will also be observed that the 

 principles in the present Act and those in the repealed 

 Norfolk Act are the same. Section 10, corresponding to 

 the previous 5th section, is of importance. By it the 

 Board of Trade may prohibit the taking of edible crabs 

 and lobsters for any periods, whether for years or for 

 portions of each year, which may seem to it advisable, 

 upon proper representation. The Irish Fishery Inspectors 

 also were given the same powers as the Board of Trade 

 derived from this section. For convenience of jurisdiction, 

 any offender against this Act may be deemed to have 

 committed the offence where he is found, and all oysters, 

 crabs, and lobsters, the possession of which is rendered 

 illegal by this Act, may be searched for by those persons 

 who are authorised to search for unwholesome food, such 

 as Market and other Sanitary Inspectors. In England, any 

 two justices sitting at Petty Sessions may convict, and, in 

 addition to Great Britain, the Act applies to Man and 

 the Channel Islands. The i5th section has been before 

 alluded to. It is of great Anglo-French international im- 

 portance. The Convention in the Act of 1843 is revived 

 so far as it regards the jurisdiction of British courts over 

 French fishermen. It will be remembered that the Act of 

 1868 repealed the Convention in the Act of 1843, and also 

 that the Convention contained in the Act of 1868 never 

 came into operation, because the day to be fixed for its 

 commencement was, in fact, never fixed at all. 



The enactments briefly noticed above embody the only 

 legislation which now prevails for the protection of either 

 spawning-grounds, spawning-places, or spawning-beds. It 

 will be seen that the last named are now alone protected 



