362 
BULLETIN OF THE BUREAU OF FISHERIES 
when they are violating the laws, as the law between two specific points on the coast in one section 
is entirely different from that in another section but a few miles distant. The legislature in 1911 
passed a law that prohibited taking smelts in any other way than by hook and line or weirs or set 
nets through the ice, within one-half mile of the coast line at near high water mark, from Cape 
Small Point on the west bank of the Kennebec and continuing easterly along the coast of Maine 
to Owlshead on Penobscot Bay. The law is very unsatisfactory and is working great injury to the 
smelt fishery in the rivers between those two points, as it allows the smelts to be taken in weirs 
and with set nets through the ice in rivers which are so narrow that such devices catch practically 
all the fish that come into them. I would advise that the law be repealed and that a new general 
law be passed, prohibiting the catching of smelts in any river or bay the entrance to which or any 
part thereof is less than one-half mile in width, in any other way than by hook and line. The pres- 
ent method of catching, viz., with nets and weirs, in those small rivers and bays which the smelt 
frequent for the purpose of spawning will ultimately destroy the species. There seems to be no 
good reason why one general law can not be framed that will apply to all sections of the State. 
In 1917 the general law of Maine (P. L. 1917, chap. 71, sec. 74) provided that: 
No smelts shall be taken or fished for in tidal waters, nor in any brook, stream, or river 
emptying into tide waters, within one thousand feet of tide water, except by hook and line, between 
the first days of April and October, under a penalty of not less than ten, nor more than thirty 
dollars for each offense, and a further penalty of 20 cents for each smelt so taken; and all weirs for 
the capture of smelts shall be open and so remain, and all nets used in the smelt and tomcod 
fishery shall be taken from the water on or before said first day of April under a penalty of not less 
than twenty, nor more than fifty dollars, and a further fine of five dollars for each day that such 
weir or net remains in violation of the law. But weirs with catch pounds covered with nets, the 
meshes of which are one inch square in the clear, or greater, or weirs with catch pounds covered 
with nets which are erected and used for the catching of herring are not subject to this section. 
But no smelts caught in such weirs after the first day of April shall be sold or offered for sale in 
this State, nor shall smelts, caught in any manner between the first day of April and the first day 
of October following be offered for sale, sold, or shipped from the State under a penalty of twenty - 
five dollars for each offense. 
Then follow a dozen or more exceptions and no less than 18 special laws 
applying to separate localities. These laws were in force until the legislature attempted 
to amend them in 1923. 
Chapter 132, Public Laws 1923, “ An act to repeal sections seventy-four, seventy- 
five, seventy-six, and seventy-seven of chapter forty-five of the Revised Statutes, and 
enacting a new law for the better protection of smelts,” says: 
Section seventy-four as amended by chapter seventy-one of the public laws of nineteen hundred 
and seventeen, and sections seventy-five, seventy-six, and seventy-seven of chapter forty-five of the 
revised statutes are hereby repealed and in lieu thereof the following is substituted: 
No smelts shall be taken or fished for in any waters of the state between the first day of April- and 
the first day of October of each year, except by hook and line. Anyone violating any provision of this 
act shall be punished by a fine of one hundred dollars for each offence. N othing in this act shall apply 
to smelts taken in fish weirs or traps maintained and operated for the catching of sardines and 
herring. 
The inland law pertaining to smelts (sec. 26, chap. 219, P. L. 1917, as amended 
by chap. 244, P. L. 1917, and chap. 196, P. L. 1919, and chap. 218, P. L. 1921, and 
chap. 32, P. L. 1923), which stated that “it shall be lawful, however, to take smelts 
in all the inland waters of the State above tide waters with a dip-net in the usual 
ordinary way,” etc., remained in the Revised Statutes. 
