To Mundella at this time was also the credit for his Bill instituting a close season from 15 March to 15 June for fresh-water fish. Encouragement for this move had come from his own Sheffield constituency. The previous twenty years had seen an enormous expansion in the number of anglers. In 1878 Sheffield alone had 211 angling clubs, with 8,000 members, and there was much concern about over-fishing, particularly in the breeding period. Known officially as the Freshwater Fisheries Act and colloquially amongst anglers as the Mundella Act, it became law in 1878.