TIIK KRErjH-WATEK FISIIEIUKS OF NORFOLK. 
433 
I. 
NOTES ON SO>[E ANCIENT 
CUSTOMS AND EEGULATIONS WITH EEOAED 
TO THE FUESH-WATEIi FISHERIES OF 
THE COUNTY OF NORFOLK. 
Ry T. Southwell, F.Z.S. 
Read 26th April, 1887. 
The second half of the present century has been remarkable for 
the revival of interest in the long-neglected lish and fisheries of 
our inland waters. For a long previous period the value of our 
fresh-water fisheries as a source of food and recreation appears 
to have been utterly disregarded. Salmon and Trout were more 
or less cared for, but with these exceptions no precaution wliat- 
ever was considered necessary to prevent the extermination of 
the loss valuable species. Of late, however, this has all been 
changed, and I am happy to be able to record that our own county 
of Norfolk has taken a foremost part in this most desirable revival. 
I use the word revival advisedly, for it will be the object of this 
paper to show that our more remote ancestors were wiser in their 
generation than our immediate predecessors, and that they attached 
considemble value to the supply of fresh-water fish, and took 
infinite pains to insure their due preservation, and to enforce 
judicious regulations with regard to their capture. 
Thirty years ago the extensive inland waters of this county, 
which are estimated at five thousand acres of “ broad ” and two 
hundred miles of river, comprising shallow water and deep, still 
water and stream (the whole forming certainly one of the most 
perfect natural nurseries, for what are called “ coarse fish,” to be 
found in England), were utterly neglected and given over to the 
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VOL. IV. 
