SELECT COMMITTEE ON THE SEA FISHERIES BILL. 



43 



4 March 1904.] 



Mr. Doughty (Member of the House of Commons). 



[Continued. 



Ghairrnan — continued. 



any power that is given ?— No, I do not say that. 

 I simply say that the powers asked for here are 

 very drastic, and unless they were carefully 

 guarded might injure the trade. 



Duke of Abercorn. 



738. You stated that il information of this 

 kind was to be given by the skippers they ought 

 to be paid for it ? — Yes. 



739. Are they not patriotic enough to give 

 information like that without being paid for it ? 

 — I am bound to say that they are, I think, as 

 patriotic as any other people under the Crown, 

 but you must bear in mind that they are not 

 clerks, they are fishermen, and if you give them 

 an order to fill in properly they ought to have a 

 proper kind of form to fill in to hand in to the 

 Board of Trade or their department in the 

 fishing ports. I think they ought to be re- 

 cognised by a payment for that service. It is 

 only fair that they should be. It does 

 not seem to me reasonable to expect 

 these men to fill in these returns, but they are 

 the persons who reaUy should fill them in. 

 That statement of returns that Lord Onslow has 

 asked for has been filled in at the offices of the 

 various companies and owners, and it is impos- 

 sible for them to know where the fish comes 

 froni ; that is altogether out of the question ; 

 therefore you will not get that information as to 

 where the fish has been caught from the source 

 from which you are asking it at the present 

 time — the fishermen. The captain of the ship is 

 the man who should fill in the return. 



740. I was referring to him ? — You say that 

 the return should be sent, not by the owners, 

 but by the fishermen direct to the Board of 

 Trade representative. If you ask these men to 

 say where they catch these fish, you must be 

 prepared to secure to them absolute secrecy ; 

 there must be no question as to its being known 

 where they do catch them, or you will not get 

 that form tilled in correctly and honestly ; but if 

 they were perfectly certain that the information 



Duke oi Abercorn — continued, 



would be absolutely secret, and if they were paid 

 some small sum for it, you would get any 

 amount of information that you require. 



741. I suppose the work would not be very 

 onerous ; it would only be once on each voyage ? 

 — Yes; perhaps not more than once in three 

 weeks or a month, especially from Iceland and 

 Faroe and those places. 



Lord Tweedmoutfi. 



742. A skipper naturally likes to keep hi§ 

 knowledge of where a good catch may be ex- 

 pected to himself? — Yes, naturally, but the 

 fishermen generally have great respect for the 

 Board of Trade ; the Department has always 

 treated them fairlj^ and has their confidence and 

 respect; and I am certain they would try to 

 carry out what the Board and the Department 

 wish, so long as in doing so they were recognised 

 by some small remuneration, which I think it is 

 only fair they should have. We are spending 

 42,000?. now m this other inquiry which is going 

 on — I do not know what is going to come out of 

 it — but I take it that for the expenditure of a 

 small sum of money, comparatively speaking, 

 say 2,000?. or 3,000?. a year, you could get all 

 the information you might require in great 

 abundance. 



Lord Northbourne. 



743. Is it not rather your opinion that neither 

 the fishermen, nor the man of science, nor any- 

 body, knows a great deal about the habits of 

 fish ? — They do not know as much as we should 

 like them to know. 



Chairman. 



744. 42,000?. is a large sum to spend ; do you 

 think it is likely that the Treasury would con- 

 sent to any addition to that very large sum 

 being spent in three years upon fishery in- 

 vestigations ? — I should like some proportion of 

 that 42,000?. to be spent in the direction I have 

 indicated ; we should get a much more practical 

 and beneficial result from it. 



Dr. WEMYSS FULTON is called in ; and Examined, as follows :— 



Chairman. 



745. You are, I think, the scientific super- 

 intendent of the Fishery Board, Scotland ?— Yes. 



746. And you have had considerable experience 



how many years' experience have you had of 



fishing investigations? — Rather over 16 years. 



747. Is that in investigation and in accom- 

 panpng steam trawlers ? — During the past few 

 years I have gone out on steam trawlers occa- 

 sionally. 



748. Your colleague. Professor DArcy 

 Thompson, spoke to us a great deal about the 

 vitality of fish after being captured, and the 

 length of time they could stay out of water ; do 

 you corroborate that, and hold the same view ? 



Yes ; it depends upon the species of fish, of 



course, and upon the ground and duration of the 

 haul, and so forth. 



749. On the ground ? — On the nature of the 

 ground. 



(v/,«.v/.,; 



Chair m an — continued. 



750. But you agreti that fish that have been 

 a considerable number of hours out of the water, 

 plaice at any rate, may be expected to live 

 if they are thrown back ? — Yes, certainly plaice 



751. And you agree, I suppose, that the great 

 nursery for undersized fish is what has been called 

 throughout the inquiry the eastern grounds ? — 

 Yes, that is where the small fish tend to accumu- 

 late. 



752. Have you anything to say as to the 

 supply of flat fish now, as compared with 

 former years ? — I have a very strong impression 

 that in comparison with the increased amount 

 of fishing the quantity is much less. 



753. Have you at all gone into the comparison 

 between what used to be taken by a sailing 

 trawler and what is taken now by a steam 

 trawler ? — No, I have not gone into that ; but 

 judging from the statistics — I have not got 

 r 2 them 



