THE LOBSTER FISHERY. 715 



be fully developed sexually iu its third year, when it is i inches long, but it may attain an age of 

 twenty years and a length of 6 inches. He, therefore, supposed that the lobster becomes capable 

 of spawning when it is three years old and has reached a length of about 8 inches, while lobsters 

 measuring less are seldom found to have any roe. In order, therefore, that the lobster before 

 being caught may not only reach the size when it may be considered fully grown, but might also 

 be supposed to have contributed something toward the propagation of the species, a minimum size 

 of a little more than 8 inches should be agreed upon, for lobsters which might be caught and 

 exported. Possibly 8 inches might be sufficient, as the English generally do not buy any from the 

 fishermen which do not have this size. 



" In consequence of this report, the ministry petitioned His Majesty to recommend to the next 

 Storthing the passage of a law forbidding the offer for sale and the sale of lobsters that did not 

 measure 8 inches in length, inclusive of the head and tail. 



"The following royal proposition for a law limiting lobster fishing was thereupon published 

 Novembers. 1838: 



" ' We, Carl Johan, &c., make known, &c. : 



" ' 1. That it shall be forbidden in this kingdom to offer for sale or sell lobsters which do not 

 have a minimum length of 8 inches, inclusive of the head and tail. For every lobster offered for 

 sale, or sold which shall not have this length, a fine of 24 cents shall be paid, half of which shall 

 go to the police or custom-house officer, or any other person denouncing the offender, and the other 

 half to the poor. All cases of this kind are to be brought before the police courts. 



" ' 2. Lobsters which do not have the above-mentioned length, shall not be exported.' 



" The Storthing committee which had to consider this matter hesitated to recommend to the 

 Storthing the passage of this law, basing their objections on several reports from the lobster dis- 

 tricts and on Professor Eathke's report. Their chief objection, however, was that the fishermen 

 would consider such a law as limiting their liberty, and, not being able to understand its utility, 

 would thereby only be encouraged to follow the dictates of selfishness and transgress the law. 

 It was, moreover, thought that it would be difficult to exercise any sufficient control, and that the 

 trade would be injured thereby. The law was therefore not passed. This was the fourth time that 

 a moderate proposition had been made to protect the lobster in order to avoid the total ruin of the 

 fisheries. In the first proposal, by Judge Lorn, it had been suggested that the lobster should be 

 protected at certain seasons of the year, when it spawns or sheds its shell, and likewise that 

 those lobsters should be protected that had not reached a certain length. In the sfcond, by Mr. 

 Gjertseu, only a certain annual season of protection was suggested; as was also done iu the third, 

 by Mr. Lundsgaard. The fourth, or Government proposal, only suggested that lobsters below a 

 certain size should not be caught. 



" It was not long before there were again numerous complaints of the decrease in the number 

 of lobsters, which, according to the testimony of impartial men, was owing to lobsters being caught 

 at a time when they spawn and shed their shell. Before anything further was done in the matter, 

 a fishery commission that had been appointed made a proposal regarding the lobster fisheries 

 which must be mentioned here. In 1840 the Government appointed a commission to revise the 

 fishery laws. The following were members of this commission : Judge Landmark, Consul Meltzer, 

 Messrs. Tangeu and Moses, merchants, Rev. (now Professor) Sars, and Chief Pilot Mousen. One 

 passage of the law proposed by this commission reads as follows: 'On their own property, as 

 far as 10 fathoms from the coast at low water, the owners shall have the exclusive privilege to 

 catch all small fish, lobsters, and oysters, but any one may catch lobsters outside of unimproved 

 land bounding the sea without regard to the distance from the coast.' 



