THE LOBSTER FISHERY. 719 



eminent also considered that protection during the season of the year when the hatching is 

 chiefly going on would answer the purpose, and that it could be more easily maintained than a 

 law prohibiting the fishing and selling of lobsters below a certain size. As the young are chiefly 

 hatched during the month of August, but also during July and September, the Government 

 thought that August should be included in every close season, while it should be left to the local 

 authorities, with royal approbation, to extend this legal season of protection to July and Septem- 

 ber, in accordance with the local circumstances of every district. By adopting these measures, 

 the trade would not be restricted to any serious extent. JChis was also granted by the commis- 

 sioners of the English lobster companies, and, as far as the fishermen are affected, they can easily 

 find work in nearly every part of the Kingdom during August, while, on the other hand, the pro- 

 tection of lobsters during a certain period will make the fisheries all the more productive during 

 the mouths when fishing is allowed. With regard to the other objections to limiting the fisheries 

 during the summer months, viz, that in the districts of Romsdal, Jarlsberg, and Laurvig, they are 

 only carried on from the beginning of spring or summer till some time in the fall, the Government 

 remarked that this could scarcely be caused by any special arrangements of the lobsters on these 

 parts of the coast, but is a natural consequence of the circumstance that the fishermen in the 

 district of Romsdal during spring and autumn are employed in the great fisheries, while in the 

 districts of Jarlsberg and Laurvig this is caused by the natural hindrances of ice and storms 

 during spring and autumn. But especially in these districts a law prohibiting fishing during the 

 month of August could not limit this trade very much, compared with the beneficial consequences 

 which such a law would have. The Government thought that the prohibition should extend both 

 to male and female lobsters, which opinion was finally also shared by Rasch. The Government 

 also proposed that the law forbidding the export of lobsters should extend the time when export 

 was not allowed eight days beyond the end of the close season, so as to enable the fishermen to 

 fish up to the very commencement of the close season. 



" On January 26, 1848, the King signed the following proposition for a law for the protection 

 of lobsters, to be laid before the Storthing during its next session : 



"'We, Oscar, &c., make known: 



'" For some time complaints have been made that the number of lobsters on the coasts of the 

 Kingdom has decreased considerably, especially since the year 1830. Competent men have been 

 consulted as to the possible causes of this phenomenon, as likewise as to the means by which the 

 lobster might be preserved, and a royal proposition for a law forbidding the catching or export of 

 lobsters measuring less than 8 inches in length was laid before the Storthing, but was not passed. 

 Renewed complaints of the great decrease in the number of lobsters have recently come from 

 several parts of the country, petitions have been sent in asking that the catching of lobsters at 

 certain seasons of the year might be forbidden, and from the information received on this point it 

 has been considered absolutely necessary, for the preservation of the lobster, to fix by law a 

 certain season of protection for this marine animal. 



'"His Majesty would therefore invite the attention of the Storthing of the Kingdom of Norway 

 to this subject, and ask them to pass a law regarding the protection of lobsters, in accordance 

 with the accompanying draft: 



" ' Draft of a law regarding the protection of lobsters. 



"'1. It shall be forbidden to catch or sell lobsters during the month of August. 



" ' 2. In accordance with a request made by the respective local authorities, the above-mentioned 

 period may be extended in the different districts by the King, but it shall in no place last longer 

 than from July 1 to September 30. 



