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§ 14. Any defendant or defendants against whom such judg- 

 ment of conviction shall be rendered, and, in case of acquittal, the 

 party making the complaint, or any person who Avdll give the 

 necessary bond, shall have the right of appeal, on the same terms 

 as in civil cases before justice.^., but no proceedings herein provided 

 for shall be stayed until such ajjpeal shall be fully perfected. 



§ 15. It shall be the duty of all sheriffs, deputy sheriffs and 

 constables of this State to look after the violation of any of the 

 sections of this act; to make comi:)laints where such violations come 

 to their knowledge; and they shall have power to arrest any per- 

 son or persons they may find in the act of violating any of the 

 provisions of this act without a warrant, and keep him or them in 

 custody until complaint can be made against him or them, as 

 hereinbefore provided. 



§ 16. All acts and parts of acts in conflict Avith this act are 

 hereby repealed; but such repeal shall not disturb the status of 

 the present Board of Fish Commissioners. 



The foregoing is a copy of our Fish laws, as now in force. 

 The intent of the law is in itself, good, but it lacks the element 

 of proper provision for its enforcement, and does not clearly de- 

 fine violation. As the law now stands, the burden of proof rests 

 with the State, and while fishermen have been taken but a short 

 distance from a lake, with a wagon loaded with fish, and with a 

 wet seine on the load, yet even with such seemingly conclusive 

 evidence of violation, conviction has failed, as it was necessary- to 

 prove that the fish were taken by such means, by parties in pos- 

 session. Men have repeatedly been detected coming out of bay 

 or lakes, with boat load of fish, and with a seine in sight, but 

 conviction was impossible for the same reason. 



Again, the law does not define, as closely as it should, what 

 kind of nets, if any, may be used. 



We think that the possession of a seine, net or trap, in the 

 portions of the State where their use is unlawful, or the posses- 

 sion of an unusual amount of fish, under circumstances which 

 would lead one to believe they were unlawfully taken, should be 

 considered a violation of the law, and warrant seizure and con- 

 fiscation of fish and nets, unless the possesser could show that 

 the fish were lawfully obtained. It is difficult to obtain evidence 

 against fishermen who violate the law, even when there are wit- 

 nesses of the violation. Men hesitate to testify against them, 

 fearing that harm to themselves or their property will grow out 

 of it. Then the work, for the greater part, is done after night, 

 and unless a business is made of watching them from start to 

 finish, conviction is very difficult. For reasons given in this 

 report, under head of fishways, as regards the use of the S2,000 

 per annum, appropriated for paying personal expenses of the 

 Commissioners, or persons authorized by them, we cannot use 

 that fund for other purposes than to pay personal expenses of 

 any one we might set at such work, their per diem being, of 



