Cherry Point Fish Co. v. Nelson

Citations

• 25 Wash. 558
• 66 P. 55
• 1901 Wash. LEXIS 431

Syllabus

<p>FISHERIES-TRAPS — DEPTH OF WATER-CONSTRUCTION OF STATUTE.</p> <p>Laws 1899, p. 194, §.l, which provides that it shall be unlawful for any person to construct, operate, and maintain in any of the waters of the state, “at a greater depth than sixty-five feet at low tide,” any pound net or trap for the purpose of catching salmon or other food fishes, was intended by the legislature, in view of all the provisions of the act, to prohibit the construction of such fishing appliances in waters of greater depth at low tide than sixty-five feet.</p> <p>SAME-EVIDENCE OP DEPTH — GOVERNMENT TIDE TABLES.</p> <p>The tide tables prepared by the United States government for the use of navigators on the waters of Puget Sound are competent evidence for the purpose of finding by their aid the depth of the water at a given time and place, under normal conditions, in order to determine whether a fish trap had been constructed in waters of greater depth than sixty-five feet at low tide, in contravention of the act (Laws 1899, p. 194), relating to the protection and propagation of food fishes.</p> <p>SAME — INJUNCTION AGAINST MAINTENANCE-SUFFICIENCY OF FINDINGS.</p> <p>A judgment enjoining the maintenance and operation of a fish trap hy defendants is supported hy a finding of the court that such trap interfered with the common right of fishery as regulated hy the statutes of the state; that it is an infringement upon the location of plaintiff and materially injures and damages the plaintiff, and is, as to it, a nuisance in fact, since such finding is sufficient to show special injury, warranting plaintiff in maintaining injunction against defendants in its own name.</p>