SELECT COMMITTEE ON THE SEA FISHERIES BILL. 



91 



11 March 1904.] 



Mr. E. WiNDEATT. 



'\Continued. 



Lord Heiie.aiji: continued. 



with the shrimping, have they ? — I do not know. 

 I do not think there would be such a feeling 

 against these byelaws if they were made univer- 

 sal throughout the whole coast, because they 

 would feel that all were being served ahke. 



Duke of Abercoi'ii. 



1670. Has the plaice much vitalitj', do you 

 know ? — I do not think they have much vitality 

 after they have been in the trawl. 



1671. That is what I want to come to. 

 You said that those taken on the trawlers and 

 thrown overboard were mostly dead or would 

 die ? — Yes, and that has been proved by the evi- 

 dence of members of my own committee, who 

 gave evidence on former Bills, and before the 

 committee on the whole question, who said that' 

 in taking them up and getting them into the 



?ot of the trawler, they were practically dead. 

 he argument was that there was no use throw- 

 ing them overboard because they will not live. 



1672. We have had evidence that they were 

 taken on deck for a considerable time and 

 stamped on by men with boots ? — I do not think 

 much of that. My own point with regard to 

 this Bill is that if we take, for instance, the 

 question of bays, the Marine Biological people 

 say that two of our bays are good nurseries for 

 fish, that there are a lot oi small fish in them ; 

 and if there was a provision that they could not 

 land the fish they would not go and trawl there. 

 1673. Do the Brixham fishermen and the 

 other fishermen make any money at all out of 

 these small :fish, who, you say, would not approve 

 of this Bill because they could not sell 



Duke of Abercorn — ^contihued. 



them ? — Yes, they make some money out of it 

 certainly. 



1674. But is it not, in your opinion, compara- 

 tively little, owing to the size of the fish ? — -Very 

 little, but they do make something. 



1675. What are those fish used for generally ? 

 — Some they use in their own houses, some they 

 sell to the very poor, and some they sell for 

 manure ; but the trawlers throw most overboard 

 that is not saleable. 



Chairman. 



1676. There is one other thing I omitted to 

 ask you ; that was, as to the policing of the area. 

 Have you sufficient means at your disposal to 

 effectually enforce your byelaws ? — No, decidedly 

 not. We have only one oflicer for the whole of 

 our district, and if we were to attempt to get 

 another office)- we should be met at once with 

 the cost to the ratepayers. 



1677. Are you a magistrate or a County- 

 Councillor ? — A member of the County Council 

 appointed by the County Council on the Sea 

 Fishery Committee. 



1678. Are you aware that so far as the police 

 are concerned there is a contribution from the 

 Imperial Government towards the cost of 

 maintenance of the police ? — Yes. 



1679. Do you think it desirable that the 

 policing of the sea should be treated in a similar 

 manner ? — I think it should ; I think it is very- 

 desirable that it should be. 



(The Witness is directed to withdraw.) 



Mr. DANIEL MEARNS is called in ; and Examined as follows :- 



Chairman. 



1680. You are Bailie of Aberdeen, are you 

 not ? — I was ; I am ex-Lord Provost of Aber- 

 been. 



1681. And you are largely interested, are you 

 not, in your fishing trade ? — Yes. 



1682. You are yourself an owner of vessels ? 

 — ^Yes, I am connected with over 40. 



1683. Have you been connected with the 

 trade for many years ? — Since ever it started. 



1684. Have you been one of those who have 

 constantly urged upon the Government^ of the 

 day the necessity of making some provision for 

 preventing the destruction of undersized flat 

 fish ?— Yes. 



1685. We were told by the officers of the Scot- 

 tish Fishery Board that there was comparatively 

 little undersized flat fish exposed for sale in 

 the port of Aberdeen. — There is very Httle 

 under-sized flat fish sold at the port of 

 Aberdeen. In fact, the Bill as before us at the 

 present moment would not affect Aberdeen to 

 the slightest extent, because we go to the Great 

 Fisher Banks of the Orkneys and Hebrides, and 

 it is only full-sized fish that come from those 

 parts. 



1686. You do not go to what have been known 

 as the eastern grounds ?— No ; we do not go to 



ao.o.) 



,-_,' Chairman — continued. 



the eastern grounds, but one or two vessels hav& 

 been known to go to the eastern grounds at the 

 time of herring fishing, and land their 

 goods at Eyinuiden ; but it has not proved 

 remunerative, and they do not go back again 

 very often. 



1687. These Great Fisher Banks are at the west 

 of the eastern fishing grounds' are they not ? — 

 Yes. 



1688. Do you think that there is any 

 probability in the theory that the great bulk of 

 these good-sized plaice which you catch on the 

 Great Fisher Banks have migrated from these 

 eastern grounds ? — Yes, it is supposed that 

 they have done so. 



1689. Do you think that if ships were pre- 

 vented, or if it was not worth \vhile for the 

 trawlers to go to the eastern grounds, a greater 

 nuitiber of full-sized plaice would come tnen to- 

 these Fisher Banks where you fish ? — Yes, it is 

 supposed that they would do so. 



1690. Are you aware that the Scottish Fishery 

 Board have been making some experiments by 

 marking fish ? — Yes, I am a member of it. 



1691. Are you aware that some fish marked 

 on the eastern grounds, small fish, have been 



M 2 found 



