XVI 



Bognor 

 lobsters. 



Close season 

 for lobsters. 



Berried 

 lobsters. 



ment may fairly enact that, with one exception, no lobster shall 

 in future be sold in this country under 8 inches in length. 



The exception which, we fear, must be made to this rule, 

 applies to Bognor. Lobsters of a very small size are taken 

 in large numbers off Bognor, and the application of an 8-inch 

 gauge to Bognor would destroy the fishery for lobsters at that 

 place. The fishermen at Bognor desire the institution of a 

 G^-inch gauge ; we have, ourselves, little doubt that a 7-inch 

 gauge would be large enough for the Bognor fishery. If, how- 

 ever, the Bognor fishermen are allowed to take 7-inch lobsters, 

 their sale should be confined within the limits of the county of 

 Sussex. In that case it should be illegal to sell, in Sussex, any 

 lobsters of less than 7 inches in length. Outside the county of 

 Sussex it should be illegal to sell any lobster less than either 

 8 inches long or 4 inches in the barrel. 



Two other recommendations have in some places been made to 

 us for the improvement of the lobster fishery. It has been sug- 

 gested to us that a close season should be instituted, and it has 

 also been suggested that the sale of berried lobsters should be 

 prohibited. A universal close season is impracticable, because 

 the season which would suit one part of the coast would be 

 quite inapplicable to other parts. In a great many places the 

 storms of winter afford by themselves a sufficient close season. 

 On the coast of Cornwall, again, the pilchard fishery practically 

 entails a close season. The drift nets of the pilchard fishermen 

 become entangled with the gear of the crabbers, and the latter 

 have to remove their pots to save their property. On the east 

 coast of England, again, the herring season affords a natural 

 close time. The crabbers leave their pots to follow the herrings, 

 which afford a more profitable industry. A close season is, then, 

 for all intents and purposes, alread}^ established in some places. 

 In others, no close season is necessary, on account of the extent 

 and situation of the fishery. No universal close season need 

 therefore be imposed by Act of Parliament. But we are inclined 

 ■bo think that the Secretary of State should have power to insti- 

 tute local close seasons in certain districts ; this power, however,, 

 should only be exercised after careful inquiry and with very 

 great caution. 



We are also unable to endorse the other recommendation 

 which has been made to us, viz., that the sale of berried lobsters 

 should be prohibited. In the first place, if it were illegal to 

 take berried lobsters, it would not pay the fishermen in many 

 cases to pursue the lobster fishery. In the next place, the lobster 

 when berried is in the very best possible condition for food, and 

 it would be as illogical, therefore, to prohibit its capture as to 

 prohibit the taking of full herrings. In the third place, if its 

 capture were illegal, Mr. Sco veil's evidence at Hamble shows that 

 the fishermen would probably remove the berries. The berries 

 would no longer be seen in the market, but berried lobsters 

 would be killed as much as ever. Berried lobsters are, it must 



