A Report upon the Mollusk Fisheries of MassachusettsMassachusetts. Commissioners on Fisheries and Game
Science
A Report upon the Mollusk Fisheries of Massachusetts
Massachusetts. Commissioners on Fisheries and Game
Shellfish fisheries -- Massachusetts
(2) _Results of Town Administration of Mollusk Fisheries._--All
authority to control mollusk privileges was originally vested in the
State. The towns, as the ancient statutes will show, derived this
authority from the higher State authority, developed their systems
of local regulations or by-laws only with the State permission, and
even now they enjoy the fruits of these concessions solely with the
active consent of the Legislature. Thus the State has ever been, and
is at present, the source of town control. The towns have no rights of
supervision and control over shellfisheries except as derived from the
General Court. The State gave them this authority in the beginning. It
follows, therefore, that the Legislature can withdraw this delegated
authority at any time when it is convinced that it is for the benefit
of the State so to do. To those few who are directly profiting at the
expense of the many, this resumption of authority by the State may seem
at first sight a high-handed proceeding, but a brief survey of the
facts will prove it to be justly warranted and eminently desirable. The
present system of town control has had a sufficient trial. It is in its
very essentials an un-business-like proceeding. A large number of towns
acting in this matter as disorganized units working independently of
one another could not in the nature of things evolve any co-ordinated
and unified system which would be to the advantage of all. The problems
involved are too complicated, requiring both broad and special
knowledge, which cannot be acquired in a short term of experience.
Lastly, the temptations of local politics have been found to be too
insistent to guarantee completely fair allotment of valuable privileges.
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