The Mouth of the Bay

The Defendant fished from a steamer for a small oily fish used as bait, not as food. He drew a purse seine about a mile and a quarter off the shore of a bay that sat inside the state, well back from the open sea. A state law barred such nets in that bay. His vessel carried a national government license issued for that exact fishery, and he argued the license outranked the state's ban.