LEGISLATION FOR THE PROTECTION OF MACKEREL. 301 



6. LEGISLATION FOR THE PROTECTION OF MACKEREL. 



1. LEGISLATION IN THE SEVENTEENTH AND EIGHTEENTH CENTURIES. 



At ail early day in the history of the United States a failure of the mackerel fishery was 

 apprehended. The following notices of legislation, copies of laws, and newspaper extracts will 

 serve to give an idea of the state of public opinion at_different periods from 1660 to the present 

 time : 



1660. Early regulation of the mackerel fishery. " The commissioners of the United Colonies 

 recommended to the several General Courts to regulate the mackerel fishery; conceiving that fish 

 to be the most staple commodity of the country. Few who have not investigated the subject 

 have at the present day an adequate conception of the importance of this branch of productive 

 industry."* 



1670. Prohibition of early mackerel fishing by laws of Plymouth Colony. " Wheras wee haue 

 formerly seen Great Inconvenience of taking mackerell att vnseasouable times wherby there 

 encrease is greatly demiuished and that it hath bine proposed to the Court of the Massachusetts 

 that some course might be taken for preventing the same and that they have lately drawne vp an 

 order about the same this Court doth enacte and order that henceforth uoe makerell shalbe caught 

 except for spending while fresh before the first of July Annually on penaltie of the losse of the 

 same the one halfe to the Informer and the other halfe to the vse of the Collonie ; and this order 

 to take place from the 20th of this Instant June."t 



1684. Prohibition of mackerel seining. "In 1680, Cornet Robert Stetson, of Scituate, and 

 Nathaniel Thomas, of Marshtield, hired the Cape fishery for bass and mackerel. In 1684, the 

 court enacted a law 'prohibiting the seining of mackerel in any part of the colony'; and the same 

 year leased the Cape fishery for bass and mackerel to Mr. William Clark for seven years, at 30 

 per annum. 



"Subsequently to 1700 it is certain that the mackerel were very abundant in Massachusetts 

 Bay. It was not uncommon for a vessel to take a thousand barrels in a season. The packing, as 

 it is called, was chiefly done at Boston and Plymouth."! 



1692. Repeal of prohibitory laws in Massachusetts. "And be it further enacted and declared, 

 That the clause in the act, entituled 'An Act for the Regulating and Encouragement of Fishery', 

 that henceforth no inackeril shall be caught (except for spending whilst fresh), before the first of 

 July annually, be and hereby is fully repealed and made void, anything therein to the contrary 

 notwithstanding. [Passed February 8, lG92-'3.]" 



1692. AN ACT for the regulating and encouragement of fishery. 



"Upon consideration of great damage and scandal, that hath happened upon the account of 

 pickled fish, although afterwards dried and hardly discoverable, to the great loss of many, and 

 also an ill reputation on this province, and the fishery of it 



"Be it therefore enacted by the Governor, Council and Representatives, convened in General Court or 

 Assembly, and it is enacted by the authority of the same, 



"[SECT. 1.] That no person or persons whatsoever, after the publication hereof, shall save or 



Freeman's Hist, of Cape Cod, Boston, 1862, vol. i, p. 239. 



t Plymouth Colony Records, vol. xi, 1623-1682 Laws, p. 228. 



J Deane's History of Scituate, Mass. 



Acts and Resolves of the Province of Massachusetts Bay, vol. i, 1692-1714, p. 102. 



