Notice of the Shad Fisheries of the River Delaware. 139 



river, and one that merits the fostering care of their respective legis- 

 latures. The importance of this species of property was recognized 

 at an early period of our history, when fisheries were comparatively 

 few, and numerous salutary provisions vi'ere enacted, from time to 

 time, in relation to them, whose object was to perpetuate their bene- 

 fits, and to secure them to their rightful possessors. Amongst others, 

 were those protecting the fisheries from unnecessary interruption by 

 vessels and rafts, which are expressly required to avoid the seines 

 while fishing, and prohibited under severe penalties from anchoring 

 within the fishing range of any of the fisheries. But of late years 

 the legislatures of these states have been so occupied with political 

 maneuvering and management, that they seem to have lost sight of 

 many of the best interests of their respective states, and amongst 

 others of the fisheries ; for while they are compelled to pay heavy 

 taxes into the state treasury, in common with other real property, 

 and are subject to several onerous restrictions, which have been art- 

 fully imposed upon them, upon the ground of preserving the breed 

 of fish, they have been so far neglected by their legal guardians, 

 that the river has of late been virtually thrown open to common 

 right, and a class of outlaws — men without a local habitation or a 

 name — are novi^ enjoying privileges and rights, without the shadow 

 of benefit to the respective states, which laws and usages from time 

 immemorial had secured to the riparian proprietor. I allude to the 

 gill-net fishermen, who have literally taken forcible possession of the 

 river Delaware, under the plea of its being a common highway, and 

 have virtually dispossessed the lawful owners of the fisheries of prop- 

 erty v^hich they considered as secure, and as much their own as their 

 farms. The several right of fishery had been the fruitful source of 

 litigation in this country from an early period of its history ; but it 

 had been so long recognized by legislative enactments, and confirm- 

 ed by the decisions of the highest judicial tribunals, that the question 

 seemed to be finally and incontrovertibly settled. This right too 

 seemed to be effectually secured to the riparian proprietor, by the 

 circumstance that it was necessary, in order to its enjoyment, that a 

 foothold should be had on shore, whereupon to manage the seine 

 and to secure its contents. This, of course, would subject any per- 

 son who attempted to encroach on the fishing rights of another, to 

 an action of trespass, and consequently operated as an effectual pro- 

 tection. But the ingenuity of man, ever ready to evade restrictions 

 that clash with his interests, has devised a mode of fishing by which 

 all connexion with the shore is rendered unnecessary, and which, 



