Parliamentary Papers

THE SELECT COMMITTEE appointed to consider the expediency of adopting measures for the preservation and improvement of the SEA FISHERIES in the seas around the British Islands, including the prohibition of the capture, landing, or sale of undersized sea fish, the prohibition of the sale or possession of certain sea fish during the period when their capture is forbidden, the fixing of close seasons, the prohibition or regulation of certain methods of fishing, the protection of defined areas, and other like regulations, international or otherwise ;--HAVE considered the matters to them referred, and have agreed to the following REPORT:

YOUR Committee have held 20 sittings for the purpose of taking evidence, and have endeavoured to obtain, as witnesses, representative men of all the different classes interested in the sea fisheries from all parts of the Kingdom.

inquiry by

Select Com

mittee.

They desire, however, to place it on record that a Committee of the House of Objection to Commons is not an altogether satisfactory tribunal to take evidence with regard to the grievances and wants of fishermen, so far as the evidence of the fishermen themselves is concerned. This is partly on account of the fact that the time at which Parliamentary Committees sit is exactly that at which fishery operations are carried on most conveniently, and with the greatest amount of success; and partly because a Parliamentary Committee necessarily requires all witnesses to attend at Westminster,—a source both of expense in the conduct of the inquiry, and of inconvenience to the fishermen themselves. Committee would therefore suggest that, if further information should appear to be desirable, it might be well that this inquiry should be supplemented by the appointment of small Departmental Committees which, by visiting various fishing centres around the coast, would give full scope to fishermen to bring forward any suggestions or grievances which they may have.

Your

necessity of

conducted

Your Committee have, however, had an advantage over any previous fishery Value of inquiry in the fact that they have had laid before them the statistics which have of nacistity of recent years been collected by the Board of Trade, and the statistics compiled by the carefully officers of the Scottish Fishery Board; and they have also had the evidence founded on observations. the observations of the scientific experts employed by the Marine Biological Association, and by the Scottish Fishery Board. Indeed, it may be almost said that this is the first fishery inquiry in which the more important complaints have been founded, not merely on the statements and the ideas of rival classes of fishermen, but upon facts and statistics. Complaints have generally been made that the statistics are not so accurate or so complete as they might be, and, especially, that they do not indicate the particular fishing grounds on which the fish are caught. The comparative success of our fisheries in any given place, or in any given year, depends so much on conditions of weather and of atmosphere, on the movements or migration of fishes, and the supply of the natural food of the various kinds of fishes, that it is very difficult, except after a careful and complete examination of the circumstances under which the fisheries have been conducted for a number of years, to arrive at any true conclusion as to the reasons of their comparative success or failure in any given year, or whether there has been any real falling off in the fish supply in a particular district, or what the reasons for such a falling off may be, if it has occurred. Your Committee are strongly of opinion that any steps which may be taken to increase the trustworthy character and the fulness of official statistics would amply repay the expenditure which may be necessary to ensure the improvement.

fisheries.

With regard to the more important fisheries carried on by British fishermen Herring from British ports, your Committee would report that, so far as the herring fisheries are

Other round fish: cod, haddock.

Flat fish:

soles, plaice.

Size limits.

Suggested
size limits
impracticable;

concerned, there is no indication of any falling off in the number of herrings to be found off our coasts; and, with the one exception of the herring fishing at Howth, in Ireland, no allegation has even been made of any permanent depletion having occurred with regard to this most important fishery.

With regard to other round fish, amongst the most important of which are the cod and the haddock, though local scarcities in certain places off the coast of Scotland are stated to have been caused by the operations of the trawlers, your Committee have no evidence that there has been generally any important diminution of their numbers; nor has it been suggested to them that any special legislative step should be taken with regard to these fish.

When, however, we come to the large class of flat fish, the circumstances differ. Off the south coast of England, the evidence seems to show with regard to these fish also, that there has been little or no falling off in their size or abundance; but when we turn to the great fishing grounds of the North Sea, from the evidence which has been given by all persons interested in the fisheries, whether trawlers or linesmen, whether smack owners or fishermen, whether scientific experts or statisticians, there seems to be no doubt that a considerable diminution has occurred amongst the more valuable classes of flat fish, especially among soles and plaice, and that this diminution must be attributed to over-fishing by trawlers in certain localities. It is true that there will not be found a great falling off in the bulk of these fish landed on the east coast. But the appliances for catching them have of recent years been greatly increased in size and efficiency, and the fishing grounds have been largely extended in area, trawlers going as far as the coast of Iceland to the north, and to the Portuguese coast in the south. The great falling off too in the size of the flat fish caught on the older fishing grounds in the North Sea is also a matter of universal observation. An immense number of these smaller sized fish are caught on the shallow, sandy grounds on the east side of the North Sea, off the Dutch and German coasts.

The principal remedy which has been suggested to your Committee for this state of things is the enactment of a law forbidding the landing and sale of flat fish below a certain limit of size; and a principal reason given in support of this proposal is a belief that, by the enforcement of a size limit with regard to sale and landing, trawlers would avoid those fishing grounds on which such small fish are mostly captured, owing to the fact that it would not be worth their while to take fish which it would be impossible for them to sell.

The prohibition of the capture of these fish is not suggested, and, indeed, is admitted on all hands to be impossible.

Size limits have already been adopted by Belgium, Denmark, and France; though, in the case of these countries, the limit is a very small one, namely, in the case of Belgium, for plaice 7.2 inches, for soles 7.2 inches, for turbot 10 inches, for brill 10 inches, from the point of the nose to the tip of the tail. In the case of Denmark, 8 inches for plaice, and 8 inches for turbot, from the point of the nose to the root of the tail. In the case of France, for plaice 5 inches, for sole 5 inches, from eye to root of tail.

Two limits of size have been suggested to your Committee for such an enactment; one by the National Sea Fisheries Protection Association, which is, for brill 12 inches, for lemon soles 11 inches, for plaice 10 inches, for soles 10 inches, and for turbot 12 inches the second, somewhat higher, by the scientific experts of the Marine Biological Association, founded on the sizes at which the various fishes come to sexual maturity, which, so far as the North Sea is concerned, appear to be 17 inches for plaice, 12 inches for soles, 18 inches for turbot, 15 inches for brill, and 12 inches for lemon soles. These experts do not, however, recommend that quite so high a limit as that of sexual maturity should be adopted.

Your Committee are unable to recommend either of these limits; they consider that, while it might be desirable to forbid the sale of small flat fish, the adoption of the a smaller limit sizes suggested would involve great hardship to many of the poorer fishermen who fish near the shore in the smaller class of boats.

proposed by

Committee.

They are of opinion that the size limit, below which the sale of small flat fish should be prohibited, should approximate to that already adopted by foreign countries; and they would suggest a limit of eight inches in extreme length for soles and plaice, and 10 inches for turbot and brill. They also consider that a strong effort should be made to secure the adoption of uniform regulations for limits of size and other matters by all the nations interested in the North Sea Fisheries.

betweenvarious

classes of

In this enquiry, as in former fishery enquiries, the fact has been constantly Differences brought out, that one of the chief problems to be solved in fishery legislation is the r method by which various classes of fishermen, fishing on the same ground, can be kept fishermen; from interfering with each other's operations, and injuring each other's gear. Regulations injury to gear, are made from time to time for this purpose, but difficulties arise as to how those sea police. regulations are to be carried out, from the want of a proper body, in the shape of an efficient sea police, to enforce them.

&c.; defective

territorial

Your Committee are sensible of the difficulties of making international regu- International lations, but are nevertheless of opinion that the best method for effectively governing difficult; regulations the operations of the various classes of fishermen, and, at the same time, for securing, so extension of far as it may be found possible, the proper protection of spawning and immature fish, limit prowould be to throw the responsibility of these duties, so far as the waters immediately posed. adjacent to the various countries are concerned, on those various countries; that, for the effective realisation of this object, the present territorial limit of three miles is insufficient, and that, for fishery purposes alone, this limit should be extended, provided such extension can be effected upon an international basis, and with due regard to the rights and interests of all nations. Your Committee would earnestly recommend that a proposition on these lines should be submitted to an international conference of the powers who border on the North Sea.

The question naturally arises at this point, to what authorities in British waters the care and regulation of sea fisheries should be entrusted, whether that area be extended or within the present restricted territorial limit.

Your Committee would recall the fact that the Trawling Commission, in their Report in 1885, recommended the establishment of a central authority to supervise and control the fisheries of Great Britain, if not of the United Kingdom; or that, in the meantime, extended powers should be given to the Scottish Fishery Board; and that a similar board, with similar powers, should be created for England. They further recommended, that to these bodies there should be granted the necessary sums of money for the purpose of conducting scientific experiments, and for collecting fishery statistics; and that adequate arrangements should be made for the establishment and maintenance of an efficient sea police, under the control of the fishery authorities so constituted.

Since the date of this Report, extended powers have been granted to the Scottish Fishery Board, and district sea fishery committees have been established in England. At the present moment, therefore, while in England there are district sea fishery committees, there is no fishery board; in Scotland there is a fishery board, and there are no district sea fishery committees. Furthermore, the district sea fishery committees in England, and the fishery board in Scotland, both labour under one and the same disadvantage, that of being without any directly elected representative element.

Fishery
British waters;

authorities in

defects of existing

system.

constitution

Your Committee would strongly urge that measures should be at once taken to Proposed introduce such a direct representative element into the English district sea fishery of her committees, and that an English Sea Fishery Board should be established, in its turn, authorities. largely representative of the district sea fishery committees. Similarly, in Scotland, that directly representative district sea fishery committees should be instituted, and that the Scottish Fishery Board should be largely representative of the Scottish district sea fishery committees.

entrusted to

Your Committee would entrust to these authorities, jointly, the care and Powers proregulation of all British sea fisheries, and would recommend that they should be posed to be supplied with adequate funds to collect statistics, to carry on the necessary scientific fishery authoobservations and investigations, and to keep up an efficient sea police to enforce the regulations made by them.

rities.

Up to the present time, such sea police as has been in existence has been Sea Police. supplied by special cruisers, detached by the Admiralty for this service. This system has not in all respects proved adequate or satisfactory, and, so far, at any rate, as exclusively British waters are concerned, your Committee believe that these cruisers should be supplemented by a special force, organized by, and under, the fishery authorities themselves, who should be provided with a number of fast steam vessels of a class similar to the newest examples of steam-trawlers. The Lancashire Sea Fishery Committee have already set an example in this direction, by the purchase and equipment of such a vessel, which cost about 5,000l. These vessels, besides being used for police work, would also be utilized for the purpose of scientific observation and experiment.

Oysters;
English beds.

Sale of foreign oysters during

natives.

Evidence of considerable interest was given to your Committee with regard to the English oyster fisheries, which proves, without possibility of doubt, that the depletion of English oyster beds has been extensive. The reason of this depletion, your Committee are inclined to believe, is mainly to be found in repeated and continued failures of the spatting seasons. Your Committee does not feel competent to offer any opinion as to how this unfortunate state of things can best be remedied, but they consider that it is a matter worthy of further enquiry, with the view of enabling the fishery authorities of Great Britain to deal with the subject at an early date.

It was strongly urged upon your Committee that they should recommend that close time for the sale of foreign oysters brought to England, and relaid on British beds, should be forbidden during the close time which is in force for native oysters. Your Committee are unable to see that such a prohibition would in any way assist the restoration of British beds; nor do they believe that the sale of these foreign oysters leads to an unlawful sale of native oysters during the close time; while, on the other hand, to prohibit the sale of these foreign oysters would take away employment from a large body of men, and would deprive a certain class of the community of a cheap luxury, which they seem to appreciate during the summer months. Your Committee cannot, therefore, recommend any alteration of the present law under this head.

Close time for herrings.

Seine nets

alleged damage off coast of Ayrshire.

From Scotland have come requests for the recommendation of a close time for herrings, varying in season in various localities. It is not pretended that this close time is required in the interest of the supply of herrings, which, it is admitted, has not suffered in bulk from any operations of the fishermen. The reasons on which the demand is based are rather to prevent the curing of the smaller or under-sized class of herring, which are not most suited for curing purposes; and in order that something may be done to maintain the prices of cured herring at an even rate, or indeed, to keep up the price of herrings. Great differences of opinion exist as to the desirability of such a close season amongst curers and fishermen in different districts.

Your Committee do not think that the institution of a close season can be justified except to meet a pressing necessity for the protection of the particular fish to which the close time is to apply, and they do not therefore recommend any alteration of the law in this respect.

Serious complaint was brought before your Committee of the damage which has, for herrings; since 1878, been caused by the use of seine nets for catching herrings on the Ballantrae banks, off the coast of Ayrshire. It is asserted that this practice both serves to disperse the shoals of herring which frequent those banks in the summer, and also greatly damages the trammel nets used by the local fishermen. The question is one in regard to which it is difficult for your Committee, on the evidence laid before them, to come to any definite conclusion. But it would appear to your Committee that this is a subject which should fall within the province of a local district sea fishery committee, and that the making of regulations to deal with such matters, as they arise from time to time, will naturally be entrusted to district sea fishery committees when constituted.

Harbour accommodation in Scotland.

Fishery Harbour improve

ments in

England and
Ireland.

Facilities for

transit of fish to centres of

population; telegraphic

communication.

The necessity for improved harbour accommodation in Scotland has also been urged on your Committee.

For many years the Scottish Fishery Board have had placed at their disposal for harbour works a small annual sum. The result of the expenditure of these moneys has not been such as to cause much satisfaction at the manner in which they have been expended. Your Committee think that it would be well, for the future, that the Scottish Fishery Board should be allowed to apply any funds with which they may be entrusted for purposes of harbour improvement, as a security for loans, to be made by the Public Works Loans Board to harbours which may be approved both by that Board and by the Scottish Fishery Board.

Your Committee are of opinion that when Fishery Boards are constituted in England and Ireland, the question of improvement to fishery harbours in those countries should not be lost sight of, and that these boards should, for the purposes of harbour improvement, be provided with funds at least on a similar scale and invested with similar powers to those enjoyed by the Scottish Fishery Board.

The importance throughout the United Kingdom of greater facilities of transit for fish from outlying districts to centres of population, and for telegraphic communication between those centres and the outlying districts, has been made very apparent. Your Committee strongly urge that these questions should be favourably considered by the Board of Trade and other Departments of the Government before whom they may from

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Parliamentary Papers, Volume 15