Laws and Regulations

The initial protection for inland fisheries like the salmon was left up to the different town councils (Dunfield, 1985).  Unfortunately, the towns were not very forthcoming about issuing restrictions that would put their fishermen at a disadvantage as compared to those in the next town.  The first town to come up with a regulation was the town of Haverhill, Massachusetts.   In 1687, it passed a regulation that insisted on the free passage of fish through man-made barriers on the Merrimack River and its tributaries.  But still the problem continued to worsen.  The Massachusetts Legislature was soon forced to take further action.  In 1709, it enacted the first series of laws that were designed to protect the river fisheries.  This act prevented any nuisances, like hedges, weirs etc., that obstructed the passage of the fish.  It prohibited any new construction of fishing devices, mill dams and other obstructions.  This too was not very effective primarily because of the opposition from new owners who felt singled out.  There were also problems with implementation.

It was observed long before 1773, that the Atlantic Salmon had stopped running past Concord.  Thus in September of 1773,  noting that the salmon runs past their communities were declining, the General Court of the town of Haverhill passed another act. This Act prevented the destruction of salmon in the Merrimack River.  It outlawed the stretching of seines and nets across the stream.  Seines could not be more that 264 feet long (Dunfield, 1985).  In 1801 these fishing regulations were refined but were of little benefit to the fish.

More laws were passed between 1765 and 1869 relating to fisheries in the Merrimack River.  The Commonwealth of Massachusetts passed several fish acts in the 1740s.  One required anyone building a dam to provide for a fish passage and keep it open each year from April to May.  Two years later, committees were set up to decide on the location and dimension of such passages.  This law was later amended in 1745, which exempted mill owners from building the fishway if fish no longer spawned in the adjacent river.  If fish did exist, a committee could decide on whether the mill or the fish made a greater contribution to the general benefit of the community.  In 1806, another State law was enacted which required fishways to be built.  It also stipulated that water be supplied to these fishways from April 1 to June 1.  From 1810 to 1820, fishing was restricted to 3 days per week and the salmon were sold for $0.1 to $0.15 each (Jerome et. al.,1965).

In the early nineteen hundreds fishways were very crude, with wooden sluices that were inclined.  These often reduced the efficiency of power generation since they decreased the amount of water available.  Thus, they were not very popular.  Even though the laws required fishways to be constructed, it was not until 1866 that the first (effective) fishway was built at the Lawrence dam.  The Lawrence dam required the construction of a fishway that allowed migrating fish to pass through, especially since it was the first dam in the upstream path of the fish.  However, the fishway was a failure because of its poor location for attracting fish. 

In 1865, New Hampshire passed a law requiring that all the State's major rivers be equipped with fishways on their dams.  By 1867, Massachusetts also made fishways mandatory.  The taking of salmon as well as shad from both these States was prohibited in 1867.
 
 
 
 

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