THE SELECT COMMITTEE OF 1893 55 



tions for their better regulation and improve- 

 ment. We have seen that the Commissioners 

 of 1878 (who were also the inspectors of salmon 

 fisheries) advised that the Home Secretary should 

 have power, after due inquiry, to issue Provisional 

 Orders restricting trawling in defined areas. To 

 carry out such inquiries, some authority was 

 necessary, and they advised that the powers 

 possessed by the salmon inspectors should be 

 extended so as to include the sea-fisheries also. 

 This was not done immediately, so that when 

 the Trawling Commission met there was no 

 authority in England having jurisdiction over the 

 sea-fisheries, except the Board of Trade, in so far 

 as it had authority under the Sea-Fisheries Act 

 of 1868, and the Acts amending this, to regulate 

 the oyster and shell fisheries, and to grant orders 

 conferring rights of " several fishery." 



This state of affairs was unsatisfactory, and the 

 Trawling Commission made recommendations 

 designed to remedy it. We have already seen 

 that, on their advice, the Government effected 

 legislation which gave the Scottish Fishery Board 

 largely increased powers and resources, and 

 enabled them to institute the scientific investiga- 

 tion of the Scottish fisheries. The Commissioners 

 went further, however, and, taking a comprehen- 

 sive view of the situation, they recommended 

 that a central authority should be created, with 

 powers " to supervise and control the fisheries 



