718 HISTORY AND METHODS OP THE FISHERIES. 



a fine of 24 cents apiece shall be paid by every one who, during the season of protection, allows 

 female lobsters to be caught and offered for sale, or in any way trades in such. 



" SEC. 6. The same fine shall be imposed on lobster dealers or their agents if they receive and 

 ship lobsters caught during the close season, in accordance with the law in force in the district in 

 which the lobster station is located. 



"SEC. 7. The sums realized by these lines go half to the person who denounces the trans- 

 gressor, and the other half to the poor fund of the respective district. All such cases must be 

 brought before the police court. 



" Professor Rasch has given his reasons for the provisions of the above law as follows : 



" 'Although there are frequent complaints that general game and fishing laws are not suited to 

 all the districts of this large country, where the different degrees of latitude and local circum- 

 stances produce great differences with regard to the pairing season, the periodical arrival, &c., of 

 the same races of animals, he had in most cases found fewer differences than one in general might 

 be led to suppose. He proposed section 1, so that every district should have the season of protec- 

 tion best suited to its circumstances.' 



" Regarding section 2 he says : 



"' As in his opinion it seemed sufficiently proved that the most prolific hatching season occurs 

 in the mouth of August, even in the most northerly portions of the country where lobster fishing 

 is carried on, he thought that, in all cases, this month should be included in the season of pro- 

 tection.' 



" Regarding section 3, he thought that the strictness of the protection might be relaxed a 

 little in those districts where the summer fisheries, on account of peculiar circumstances, cannot 

 be entirely stopped without immediate loss to the poor coast population. He thought, moreover, 

 that by protecting only the female lobsters, the purpose of the law with regard to the preservation 

 of the species will be just as fully answered as by protecting both sexes during the same period of 

 time. The objection may be raised that it will be difficult to distinguish between a female with- 

 out outside roe and a male ; but the difference of sex is so great that a fisherman may be able 

 to tell it at the first glance. Nor would he only protect those lobsters which have outside roe, as 

 this may easily be scraped off. Irregularities of the normal sexual relations will be of very little 

 importance, as most of the females which have been protected will be caught by the fishermen 

 when the season of protection is over, as they go but a short distance from the place where they 

 stay. The objection made to the law, that it would force the fishermen to return the products of 

 the sea to it, he considers to be of great importance, but he hoped that they would see what a 

 great risk they ran by unlawful fishing, and be convinced that protection will in the long run 

 benefit their trade. 



" From the above it will be seen that, with the exception of the governors of Jarlsberg and 

 Laurvig, and two of the lobster-agents, all local authorities and competent men were in favor of 

 the opinion that the decrease in the number of lobsters noticed during the last few years, had 

 been caused by too extensive fishing during that part of summer when the lobster spawns, and 

 had considered a law prohibiting lobster fishing during a certain period of summer and autumn 

 as the only effective means of protecting this important animal. But others, we see, wished to 

 have the protection extended from June or May till October; others only from July to Septem- 

 ber; and others, again, only to August and September. Both in Sweden and Heligoland there 

 are laws prohibiting the catching and selling of lobsters from July 1 till September 15, and in 

 Scotland it is forbidden, under a penalty of 5 each, to catch lobsters from June 1 till September 

 1; and in England no lobster is allowed to be sold which measures less than 8 inches. The Gov- 



