PROTECTION OF DEEP SEA FISHERIES. 421 



would therefore be useless to grant a certificate of this sort 

 in respect of any class of fishing vessels, but if granted at all 

 should apply to all classes of fishing vessels. The intention 

 of the framers of this clause is good, but as to the] way 

 in which it should be carried out, they show a great want 

 of knowledge of the requirements of the fisheries, or the 

 way to make this proposal beneficial. To be beneficial 

 the examination for certificates should include practical 

 fishing and the duties connected with it. But in this a 

 distinction of certificates would have to be made in the 

 knowledge of grounds, for a fisherman brought up in a 

 Ramsgate trawler would not be acquainted to any extent 

 with the grounds worked by the Hull trawlers, and vice 

 versa, and the same may be said generally regarding the 

 various fishermen and fisheries. It must be borne in mind 

 that hitherto the Board of Trade have only dealt with 

 surface navigation ; as soon as they begin to deal with 

 fishermen, quite a new school is opened, in the form of 

 bottom navigation among the various rocks, shoals, pits and 

 holes of the sea, and the various mixtures and colours of 

 the sand, shingle and mud met with. Certificates will be of 

 very little use as a stimulus to the fisheries unless these 

 various subjects are added. 



Clause D. Masters and mates certified under the 

 Merchant Shipping Act, 1854, are liable to Board of Trade 

 enquiries, and to suspension of their certificates, in the 

 event of incompetence being proved. Masters and mates 

 becoming certified under this draft Bill would therefore 

 become liable to certain penalties to which they have not 

 hitherto been subject, and for which there is really no 

 necessity. For the insurance clubs in which the fishing 

 vessels are insured partially carry out these penalties at 

 present, and exercise such a careful and active supervision 



