It is still an open question whether a really large factory 

 trawler ought to operate with a number of satellite catchers. 

 We have in Britain done some research into the most appro- 

 priate means of transferring catches; maintaining quality is an 

 important point here and much has been learned from the com- 

 mercial trials that have already been carried out. But results 

 so far have not been encouraging. Consideration has also 

 been given to a rotating mother-ship system whereby, say, six 

 trawlers transfer all their catches to a seventh which would 

 soon depart for home with a full hold of high quality (newly 

 caught) fish stowed in ice in the traditional way. One of the 

 remaining trawlers would then assume the role of mother-ship 

 and its place as a catcher taken by a newly arrived trawler ( and 

 so on ) . Some high level paper studies were made on this ques- 

 tion but, even assuming satisfactory answers to the technical 

 problems, conclusions were not optimistic. 



The word "harvesting" is very expressive. But I am not 

 sure that "hunting" would not be more appropriate, particu- 

 larly when applied to the North Atlantic. On all the known 

 fishing grounds in this region it is becoming increasingly hard 

 to find a commercial quantity of sizable and edible fish of the 

 types in popular demand. Many grounds around the coasts 

 of Europe which were prolific thirty years ago are now com- 

 mercially barren. We all know that the main reason for this 

 is overfishing and the failure to take the necessary precautions 



to allow small fish to pass through the nets. I realise that I 

 am straying into the field of conservation. But there can be no 

 worthwhile harvest, at least in the longer term, if there is not 

 good husbandry. 



Good husbandry means simply economic management. In 

 the North Atlantic management is virtually absent. But fish- 

 ery scientists have sounded the warnings. We in Britain sin- 

 cerely hope that both of the International Commissions con- 

 cerned will heed the warnings; there is an urgent task of ensur- 

 ing that the growing intensity of exploitation is curbed and 

 effectively regulated to maintain fishing yields at commercial 

 levels. We hope also to see helpful developments in the field 

 of international policing and enforcement of agreed measures 

 of conservation and also of behaviour of fishing vessels on the 

 grounds. Our hopes in this respect currently rest on the Tech- 

 nical Meeting of experts held in April this year to examine these 

 very topics. In the past, all International Conventions con- 

 cerning conservation in the North Atlantic have suffered from, 

 first, a restricted number of signatory countries; secondly, the 

 meagreness of the measures themselves and, thirdly, the lack 

 of effective enforcement in some signatory countries. We hope 

 we are now moving away from these inadequacies. 



To offset the increasing difficulties of catching, we have had 

 to initiate research into and to try out new methods, new tech- 

 niques, and new aids. Most European trawlers are now carry- 



M/V Haselbecb, 127-foot trawler, fishes mainly on Scotland's west coast, Faroe Banks and, occasion- 

 ally during summer, off Ireland. 



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