Poaching

Collier's New Encyclopedia (1921)

the trespassing on another's property for the purpose of killfish. According or stealing game or a per ing to the law of England, when stream where there son's land adjoins a is asis no ebb and flow that person right to fish sumed to have an exclusive extends in the stream as far as his land , the stream; and and up to the middle of incloses a so also when a person's land belong to pond, the fish in that pond properties are com him. Where several tiguous to the same lake the right of fishing in that lake belongs to the proprietors, in proportion to the value of their respective titles. Exclusive right of fishing in a public river, that is, one in which there is an ebb and flow up to the tidal limit, or a portion of the sea, in held by some proprietors by virtue of royal franchises granted prior to the Magna Charta. Any person, not an angler, found fish poaching on private property is liable to a maximum fine of $25 in addition to the value of the fish; an angler's fine does not exceed $10. In Scotland, as a general rule, the right of catching fish other than salmon belongs to the owners of the land on the banks of the waters. As to property in salmon fishings that is held to be originally vested in the crown, not only for the rivers of Scotland but also for the coasts, and no person accordingly is allowed to fish for salmon unless he possesses a grant or charter from the crown enabling him to do so. The fact is, however, that nearly all the chief landed proprietors do possess such rights.