i64 THE SEA FISHERIES 



of the Herring Fishery (Scotland) Act of 1889, large powers of 

 closure of the territorial and extra-territorial waters to trawling were 

 granted. In this Act, trawling within 3 miles of low-water mark 

 on any part of the coast of Scotland was prohibited (except in the 

 Solway and Pentland Firths), and also within the waters specified 

 in a Schedule annexed to the Act, the most important of which was 

 the Firth of Clyde. The Board was also empowered to close the 

 Moray Firth ; and this was done (partly) in 1890. In 1892 a new 

 by-law closed to trawlers the whole of the Firth, an area of approxi- 

 mately 1480 sq. miles. 



The closure of these large areas outside the ordinary territorial 

 waters was effective so long as the fishing was confined to vessels 

 flying the British flag. But with the appearance of steam trawlers 

 under a foreign flag complications set in. Apparently the Fishery 

 Board were perplexed, and the first foreigner, a Dane, was un- 

 molested. Later a German trawler was prevented from landing 

 at Aberdeen fish caught in the Moray Firth. From 1898 onwards, 

 a varying number of foreign steam trawlers fished intermittently 

 in the Firth. Strangely enough some of these were Norwegians, a 

 country which up to that time had not been known to possess steam 

 trawlers. It was soon ascertained that these pseudo-Norwegians 

 were owned and managed in Grimsby, but were registered in 

 Norway with the object of evading a by-law passed in conformance 

 with a British Act of Parliament. These vessels fished also in the 

 Firth of Clyde, making Fleetwood their headquarters ; and for 

 several years they fished with impunity, always provided they 

 kept outside the 3-mile Umit . The author has observed these vessels 

 in Fleetwood with the letters and numbers of their foreign port of 

 registry on the funnel, bow and stem, while the original letters and 

 nun^bers of their British port of registry had not been effaced from 

 their lifebuoys and punts. Ultimately the Fishery Board prosecuted 

 the masters of these foreign vessels for fishing within the limits of 

 the Moray and other Firths, even although they were far from the 

 3-mile limit. It should be noted that the actual skipper of these 

 Norwegian trawlers was almost invariably a British subject, the 

 ostensible skipper (for the purposes of registration a Norwegian 

 subject) usually occupying the humbler, if not less useful, position 

 of cook. Convictions were obtained, and one was appealed against 

 as a test case. In this instance the master was a Dane and had been 

 convicted of fishing at a point within the Moray Firth, about 4 

 miles from Lossiemouth. The appeal was dismissed and the con- 

 viction upheld by the High Court. 



This, however, did not prevent the pseudo-Norwegians fi-om 

 depleting the Futb. Further cases were taken by the Fishery 



