The law should plainly stipulate and establish the principle of the
closure of the rivers by regions or sections, but the determination of
which specific sections are to be closed should be left for
determination after investigation by properly qualified authorities.
A comparatively simple plan may be suggested under which the most
careful consideration could be given to the local conditions involved
as well as to the rights of the State as a whole. The legislature could
authorize and instruct the proper State authorities, as the State fish
commission, to give due consideration and study to the needs of the
mussel industry and determine what portions of the streams of the State
should be closed to the mussel fishery for a period of years. It could
be further provided that, after the preliminary determination of plans
for closure, due advertisement should be made in all regions affected
and opportunity given for public hearings in such regions, after which
the commission should submit its final recommendations to the governor
of the State, who should then issue a proclamation ordering the entire
interruption of a mussel fishery in the regions selected for closure.
The original legislative act should provide that the proclamation so
made should have the full effect of law, and should specify the
penalties that would be incurred by violations. It is desirable also
that the governor, upon recommendation of the commission, should have
power to reopen the closed regions when such action was judged
necessary.