PROTECTION OF DEEP SEA FISHERIES. 477 



trade at the passing of the Act of 1880, the draft clauses 

 did not become law in the same way. 



The report of this Committee was published in the early 

 part of the present year 1883. It is a very able one from a 

 general point of view, and as far as the recommendations 

 are concerned they agree mainly (on the points gone into) 

 with those previously given in this essay. There are one 

 or two points in the report which will bear a little 

 comment. 



Clause 52, referring to certificates and other matters, 

 and the vessels which shall be liable to or exempt there- 

 from. It seems rather strange that the recommendation 

 should be according to tonnage, for this in no way gua- 

 rantees the safety of the vessel or her crew if smaller than 

 the regulation tonnage. It appears to the writer that this 

 should not be according to tonnage at all, for the following 

 reasons. A certificate is hardly required where a fisherman 

 is always fishing from the port where his home is and the 

 vessel belongs, and with which locality he is well acquainted 

 for many miles round, but it does appear desirable in 

 cases where a fisherman is going to make a voyage of 

 several hundred miles, as before shown, such as east coast 

 Scotch boats sailing to the east coast of England, or west 

 coast of Scotland ; east coast English boats going to the 

 northern or western ports of Ireland, or west coast boats 

 going to the northern ports, and so on. In most cases 

 these voyages are made only once a year. If the weather 

 is favourable, all is well ; but suppose it is not, and the 

 vessel is unable to keep the coast, how is the master to 

 know where he is unless he is educated to a certain extent ? 

 In many cases now it is " happy go lucky," as well as with 

 some of the North Sea trawlers. An instance occurred only 

 recently of a master cutting away his trawl gear in the open 



