Xll 



Machinery for season for crabs. But the witnesses were much less unanimous 

 enforcing the ag ^ the best and most effectual means of enforcing the legislation, 

 which they were agreed in recommending. Some witnesses sug- 

 gested that the close time and gauge might be enforced by the 

 officers of the White Herring Fishery Board, or the officers of 

 the Coast Guard or Customs, and a few advocated the appointment 

 of special fishery officers for the purpose. The officers of the 

 White Herring Fishery Board, of the Coast Guard, and of the 

 Customs have, however, other duties to perform ; and besides, at 

 some of the most important fishing stations, none of them are to 

 be found. In the 56 islands, for example, constituting the 

 Orkney group, there are three policemen and one fishery officer ; 

 yet the annual export of lobsters from Orkney is not much under 

 80,000. The same remark would apply to the island of Lews 

 and Harris, which annually sends away a similar number of 

 lobsters, and to Benbecula, North Uist, and Barra, which are 

 likewise most productive lobster grounds. 



Nor is the suggestion that special fishery officers should be ap- 

 pointed for the purpose of enforcing the close time and gauge more 

 practicable. The question at once arises, Who is to pay them ? 

 There is no right of private property in crabs and lobsters as in 

 salmon fisheries, and, therefore, there is no owner whose interest 

 it is to watch them and pay for their protection. It is certain 

 also that the fish merchants and fishermen would object to pay 

 for what some of them might consider an undue interference with 

 their rights, and it would be inexpedient to charge the public 

 revenue with the cost of protecting fisheries which contribute 

 nothing to its support. It is very difficult therefore, to devise 

 effectual machinery for enforcing locally any regulations which 

 may be made. It would not indeed be very difficult to enforce a 

 close season on the coasts. A fisherman cannot go out fishing for 

 crabs and lobsters without attracting the attention of his neigh- 

 bours. The machinery which he uses is cumbrous. He sets his 

 creels in places where any fisherman can see the corks or bladders, 

 and he therefore subjects himself to a prosecution by any one who 

 may be anxious to enforce the law. But it would be almost impos- 

 sible to enforce a gauge locally. The fisherman who took any 

 under-sized crabs or lobsters would naturally place them in the 

 bottom of bis basket, and as it would be the duty of no one to 

 search the basket the offence would not be detected. But, though 

 there is a difficulty in enforcing a gauge on the coasts, there can 

 be no difficulty in enforcing it in the markets. It is the interest of 

 the fishmonger to refuse under-sized fish, as the smaller fish do not 

 pay him ; and there can be very little doubt that, if it were made 

 illegal to sell small crabs and lobsters, the chief fishmongers in 

 the country would decline to receive them, and the main, induce- 

 ment for the fishermen to take them would be removed. 



It is obvious, however, that neither a close season nor a gauge 

 can be enforced in the markets, unless the same close season and the 

 same gauge are universally, or nearly universally applicable. If it 



