^50 THE SEA FISHERIES 



spawn of sea fish, which was universaUy thought by the fishermen 

 of those daysto develop at the bottom of the sea where the™" 

 IS worked. The details of the evidence given before, andThe col 

 clusionsreached by this Commission arenow of historialtport^^^^^^^ 

 only, and must be looked for in the original blue-books. One thW 

 however, ought to be noted, the Commission of 1878 recommended 

 that power should be given to the Secretary of State to forbid 

 trawlmg m any territorial waters. The Commission of 1878 had 

 httle effect on subsequent legislation, and the next Royal Com- 

 nussion on trawling was appointed in 1883 " to inquire and report 

 on the complaints that have been made by line and drift net fisher- 

 men of mjuries sustained by them in their calling, owing to the use 

 of the trawl net and beam-trawl in the territorial waters of the 

 United Kmgdom." By this time conditions had altered con- 

 siderably ; we now find the trawlers themselves raising their voices 

 agamst the excessive employment of their own method of fishing. 



The Commissioners engaged Professor W. C. Mcintosh to make 

 a series of observations on the effects of trawling on Scottish and 

 English steam trawling vessels, and his report, published as an 

 Appendix to the report of the Commissioners, is still a document 

 of considerable interest. 



The trawlers of Hull and Grimsby who gave evidence, stated that 

 the number of flat-fish, particularly soles, had diminished ; that 

 the nearer grounds were impoverished, and that they had to go 

 greater distances for fish. 



The assertion that trawling destroyed the spawn of fish was 

 again put forward, by liners and drift netters ; but it was now 

 proved conclusively that such was not the case. That trawling 

 might in certain circumstances cause impoverishment of fishing 

 groimds was now for the first time recognised officially. The Com- 

 missioners found that on many fishing grounds, from the Moray 

 Firth to Grimsby, there had been a falling-off in the take of flat- 

 fish, both as regards quantity and quality. There had also been a 

 decrease in the takes of haddock in certain places, chiefly in bays 

 and estuaries. 



With the exception of soles, no decrease in the quantity of sea 

 fish was demonstrated to have taken place on the offshore fishing 

 grounds of the North Sea. The Commissioners, therefore, in their 

 report (1885), recommended that the Scottish Fishery Board should 

 have statutory powers given them to regulate or suspend trawling, 

 or any other method of fishing within the territorial waters. In 

 the same year the Sea Fisheries (Scotland) Amendment Act was 

 passed (48 and 49 Vict., c. 70). This Act authorised the Fishery 

 Board when they " are satisfied that any mode of fishing in any 



