5 A BILL [AS AMENDED BY THE SELECT COMMITTEE] FOR The Protection of Freshwater Fish. E it enacted by the Queen's most Excellent Majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal, and Commons, in this present Parliament assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows: A.D. 1878. Short title. 1. This Act may be cited as the Freshwater Fisheries Act, 1878. 2. This Act shall, so far as is consistent with the tenour thereof, Construction. be read as one with the Salmon Fishery Acts, 1861 to 1876. 3. This Act shall not extend to Scotland or Ireland, nor, except Extent. as regards sub-sections four and five of section twelve, and as 10 regards section thirteen, to the counties of Norfolk and Suffolk, and the county of the city of Norwich. 15 4. This Act shall come into operation from and immediately Commenceafter the thirty-first day of December one thousand eight hundred ment. and seventy-eight. Salmon Fishery Acts relating to provisions of 5. Sections eight and nine of the Salmon Fishery Act, 1861, Extension of (which relate to fishing with lights, spears, and other prohibited instruments, and to using roe as a bait,) shall, as amended by the subsequent Salmon Fishery Acts, apply to trout and char in all waters within the limits of this Act; and the term "salmon river," 20 as used in section sixty-four of the Salmon Fishery Act, 1865, shall include any such water. trout and char. Formation tricts in fishery distrout and char rivers. 6. The provisions of the Salmon Fishery Acts, 1865 and 1873, and dissoluwhich relate to the formation, alteration, combination, and dissolu- tion of tion of fishery districts, and to the appointment, qualification, 25 proceedings, and powers of conservators, shall extend and apply to all waters within the limits of this Act frequented by trout or char; and the term "salmon river" in the fourth section of the Salmon Fishery Act, 1865, and in the twenty-sixth section of the Salmon Fishery Act, 1873, shall mean any river frequented by salmon, 30 trout, or char. A.D. 1878. to licenses. 7. In any fishery district subject to a board of conservators, the Provisions as conservators shall have power to issue licenses to all persons fishing for trout or char, and the provisions of the thirty-third, thirtyfourth, thirty-fifth, thirty-sixth, and thirty-seventh sections of the Salmon Fishery Act, 1865, and of the twenty-first, twenty-second, 5 twenty-fourth, and twenty-fifth sections of the Salmon Fishery Act, 1873, (relative to licenses,) shall be construed as if the words "trout or char" were inserted throughout after the word "salmon." Powers of water bailiffs. Justice may grant war suspected 8. The provisions of the thirty-first section of the Salmon Fishery Act, 1865, and of the thirty-sixth, thirty-seventh, and thirty-eighth 10 sections of the Salmon Fishery Act, 1873, relative to the powers of water bailiffs, shall extend and apply to all waters within the limits of this Act, as if the words "salmon river," wherever they occur in such sections, included all waters frequented by salmon, trout, or char. 15 9. The provisions of the thirty-fourth section of the Salmon Fishery rant to enter Act, 1861, which empower any justice of the peace upon information on oath to authorise the search of any premises, shall extend to all offences committed or alleged to have been committed under this Act, and that section shall be construed and have effect as if the 20 word "salmon " included trout, char, and all freshwater fish. places. Power to extend close season to char. Close season for freshwater fish. 10. The provisions of the Salmon Fishery Act, 1876, which empower a board of conservators to alter the period during which it shall be illegal to take or kill trout in any fishery district, shall extend to char, and the fourth section of that Act shall be construed 25 and have effect as if the words "or char" followed the word "trout" in that section. 11. (1.) In this section the term "freshwater fish" includes all kinds of fish (other than pollan, trout, and char) which live in fresh water, except those kinds which migrate to 30 or from the open sea: (2.) The period between the fifteenth day of March and the fifteenth day of June, both inclusive, shall be a close season for freshwater fish: (3.) If any person during this close season fishes for, catches, or 35 attempts to catch or kill any freshwater fish in any river, lake, tributary, stream, or other water connected or communicating with such river, he shall, on summary conviction before two justices, be liable to a fine not exceeding forty shillings: 40 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 Nothing in this sub-section shall apply (a.) To the owner of any several fishery where trout, char, or grayling are specially preserved destroying within such fishery any freshwater fish other than grayling; (b.) To any person angling in any several fishery with the leave of the owner of such fishery or in any public fishery under the jurisdiction of a board of conservators with the leave of said board; (c.) To any person taking freshwater fish for scientific purposes; (d.) To any person taking freshwater fish for use as bait : (4.) If any person during this close season buys, sells, or exposes the (6.) After every conviction under this section the person or (7.) A board of conservators appointed under the Salmon Fishery A.D. 1878. 40 & 41 Vict. c. 65 to 12. The Fisheries (Dynamite) Act, 1877, which prohibits the use Extension of of dynamite or other explosive substance for the catching or destruction of fish in a public fishery, shall apply to the use of any private such substance for the catching or destruction of fish in any waters. water, whether public or private, within the limits of this Act. |