FISHERY IMPROVEMENT IN JERSEY. 87 



boat having taken, about 1845, 327 tubs in three consecutive trips. 

 The natural consequence of this course of wholesale and disgracefully 

 improvident exploitation of the beds is seen in the fact that this great 

 industry has dwindled to such an extent as to be represented in the 

 present year (1897) by a single small dredging boat taking on an 

 average not more than 200 to 300 oysters per day. 



2. In 1843 an Act of the Imperial Parliament was registered in 

 Jersey minutely regulating fishing methods, even to specifying the size 

 of the mesh in the chief forms of nets then in general use. Thus the 

 centre net of trammels had to have a mesh measuring 2in. along each 

 side, and many other items of a like character. This law, most useful in 

 many of its provisions, was repealed by the Act of 1868. 



3. In 1862, the States passed a local law — subsequently modified in 

 1869 and 1886 — the main provisions now in force being: — 



a. That all nets, excepting seines or draw-nets for the capture of 

 smelts (gras-dosj, and sand-eels, shall have a mesh measuring at least 

 1£ in. along each side, being the equivalent to what the fishermen now 

 call a 3 -in. mesh. 



b. That the use is forbidden of draw-nets or other nets employed to 

 draw fish to shore, in the bays of St. Aubin, St. Brelade, Grouville, and 

 St. Clement. 



c. That a minimum size of 9 inches in length is prescribed for 

 lobsters and plaice ; the capture and sale of smaller-sized fish being 

 prohibited under penalty. 



This law so far as it goes, is most excellent, but has been treated as 

 non-existent by many people, as no adequate machinery exists to enforce 

 its respect. 



4. In 1869, "The Sea Fisheries Act, 1868," was registered in Jersey 

 whereby numerous prior restrictions and regulations of sea-fishing con- 

 tained in the Act of 1843 were annulled — and no provision was made for 

 their replacement by others. 



This Act marks the climax of a period of reactionary thought in 

 fishery matters, now all but universally condemned. This repeal of 

 former restrictions was due to the misconception, entertained at that 

 date by even the highest authorities, that the resources of the sea are 

 inexhaustible ; the enormous numbers and fecundity of the edible fishes 

 and the vast extent of the waters round our coasts, appealed so vividly 

 to the minds of the Commissioners appointed by Government to investi- 

 gate, that they agreed that fishermen might fish when, where and how 

 they liked, quite without restriction. The fishermen themselves thought 

 differently, but arrayed against them were Professor Huxley and a band 

 of highly talented and earnest men of authority, such for example as 

 Lyon Playfair, Shaw Lefevre, Frank Buckland, and Spencer Walpole. 

 The weight of authority prevailed, and fishermen were, in effect, told to 



