" RECONSTRUCTION" 



WE may start with the presumption that for purely 

 administrative duties the present Central and Local 

 Authorities will continue, though possibly in a modified 

 form. For various problems arising in connection with the future 

 of the Sea Fisheries the present organisation does not appear to be 

 adequate, and some new controlling and co-ordinating authority 

 is required. The question is, What is this new authority to be, and 

 how will it best face the onerous duties which await it ? Of all 

 the Committees of Inquiry of recent years the problem seems to 

 have been best understood by the Committee on Fishing Investi- 

 gations of 1908, and in its recommendations is to be found the germ 

 of the future organisation which must be estabhshed if the fisheries 

 of these islands are to progress with the times. The first and by 

 far the most important recommendation of the Committee of 1908 

 was, " The establishment of a Central Council for the United 

 Kingdom which shall have control of public funds for Fishery 

 Investigations of a National and International character." This 

 recommendation is thoroughly sound, and until it is carried into 

 effect the co-ordination of schemes for the improvement of the sea 

 fisheries will prove to be impossible. 



The Central Council should consist of a paid chairman and nine 

 honorary members. The chairman should become a member of 

 the Civil Service and should be appointed by the Prime Minister 

 at a salary which should be sufficient to secure the best man avail- 

 able. Political or social considerations should not be allowed to 

 influence this appointment, but the person selected should have 

 experience in the following subjects : He should have a practical 

 knowledge of the conditions under which the sea fisheries of this 

 country are carried on, and should have had a thoroughly efficient 

 training in scientific method, so that he may be able to form an 

 independent and unbiassed opinion as to the value of any piece of 

 scientific research, and its applicability to modern fishery conditions. 

 If he also has a knowledge of fishery law and has had some adminis- 

 trative experience then so much the better. 



The nine members of the Council^ should receive only their 



1 See also " Memorandum on the Reconstruction of the Fishing Industry after 

 the War," prepared by the Scottish Steam Drifters Association, Aberdeen, 1918. 

 The scheme outlined above has been modified to bring it into line with the proposals 

 contained in this Memorandum. 



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