454 THE HISTORY OF DUTCH SEA FISHERIES. 



been now for a long time extinct, or very nearly so. Flounder 

 and turbot were always, as they are to this day, prominent 

 among the produce of the Zuider Zee, and gave their name 

 to the vessels most in use there (botters, from bot, i.e., 

 flounder). Herring fishery was also exercised in the said 

 water from time immemorial ; but Zuider Zee herring never 

 was branded, nor its fishery subjected to working rules, 

 whereas the main object of legislation on Zuider Zee fisheries 

 has for centuries been to prevent the destruction of salmon, 

 sturgeon, and flounder, by regulations as to the width of the 

 nets to be used. This object was pursued some time before 

 the Republic was born. On January 8th, 1546, the Emperor 

 Charles the Fifth, by a publication, fixed the minimum size 

 of the meshes, at " five common seamen's thumbs." The 

 towns of Holland, whose fishermen had from early times 

 used to fish in the Zuider Zee with narrow nets, obtained the 

 repeal of this edict on November I2th, 1547, when there 

 was substituted for it a prohibition against dragging nets 

 through the water, by which proceeding, according to the 

 said law, fish are smothered ere they be full grown. It was 

 likewise forbidden by this edict to land smothered unripe 

 fish and sell them as food for cattle or pigs ; and all fish 

 not quite full-grown were prescribed to be thrown over- 

 board as soon as caught. Fishermen from Holland con- 

 tinued to assert their rights to unlimited fishery in spite of 

 the law, whereas those of Gelderland and Overyssel insisted 

 on its observation, and moreover claimed for themselves the 

 exclusive right to fish within a certain distance from their 

 shore ; and both subjects became a matter of protracted 

 disputes between the several provinces.* A provisional edict 

 of the year 1555, fixed the minimum width of the nets to be 



* A paper on the subject has been contributed to Nyhoff's Bydra- 

 gen voor VaderL Geschiedenis en Oudheidkunde> 1864, p. 309. 



