3o8 THE SEA FISHERIES 



water must be freed from all excrementitious or other foul or 

 noxious matter before it is conveyed into any natural stream or 

 watercourse, or into any canal, pond or lake. 



But the section has not been interpreted as applying to tidal 

 waters. The Rivers Pollution (Prevention) Act of 1876 does not 

 apply to tidal waters. The Statute law, therefore, does hot pro- 

 hibit the discharge of polluting liquids into tidal waters. Some of 

 the local fisheries committees have a by-law prohibiting the deposit 

 or discharge of any solid or liquid substance detrimental to sea fish 

 or sea fishing, but as there is a proviso that this prohibition is subject 

 to any powers conferred on any sanitary or other authority, it can 

 easily be seen that as a means of preventing contamination of shell- 

 fish beds the by-laws are farcical. The carrying out of sewage 

 schemes by various sanitary authorities generally involves a pre- 

 liminary Local Government Board inquiry. 



There appears to be no uniformity in the methods adopted for 

 the purification of sewage by the various sanitary authorities which 

 discharge their sewage into tidal waters, so one finds in close 

 proximity one authority with modern methods of sewage treatment 

 prior to discharge, whilst another authority discharges absolutely 

 crude sewage. It is objected by Dr. Bulstrode (and others) to 

 modern treatment that " there is at present no known method of 

 sewage purification which will effectually remove the organisms 

 from such sewage." Granted, but, at any rate, as far as sea fish 

 are concerned, a great improvement would be effected if all sanitary 

 authorities discharging sewage into tidal waters were compelled to 

 remove solid matters prior to discharge. The removal of solid 

 matters is a comparatively easy matter, and has two advantages, it 

 prevents de-aeration of the water and the consequent suffocation 

 of the fish, it also prevents the formation of foul sludge banks, 

 which are often clothed with certain green seaweeds.^ whose decay 

 forms an extensive nuisance. 



The procedure in the case of inquiries relating to the discharge 

 of sewage in tidal waters, or on the foreshore, was formerly open 

 to serious criticism, but an improvement was effected in 1910. 

 Previously -it was not always possible for the local fisheries com- 

 mittee to be represented at such inquiries, as they were not m receipt 

 of information of the place and date of inquiry In 1910 the local 

 committees were notified officially by the Board of Agriculture and 



^'"^It hasTeen thought desirable to modify the procedure lutherto 

 adopted when consulting local fishery authorities with regard to 

 sewage schemes. It has been axranged that, in future m all cases of 



1 Ulva latissima (Sea lettuce). 



