THE ROYAL COMMISSION OF 1863 ' 27* 



industry. Their recommended policy of throw- 

 ing open the ports and the territorial waters of 

 the United Kingdom to foreign fishermen was 

 dictated by the same views, and was in thorough 

 accord with prevailing economic doctrines. 

 Nevertheless, they had a profound conviction of 

 the incalculable resources of nature, and of the 

 insignificance of man's operations in reducing 

 those resources ; and however those views may 

 require modification at the present day, they were 

 then thoroughly justified by the development 

 of the fishing industry, and they were just 

 those views which aided (or perhaps made 

 possible) the prodigious after-development of the 

 fishing trade. 



The recommendations made by the Commis- 

 sioners of 1863 were that all laws which professed 

 to regulate fishing in the open sea be repealed, 

 and that all similar laws applying to native 

 waters be also repealed, with the exception of 

 a local Act regulating fishing at St Ives, in 

 Cornwall, and of so much of the Scottish Herring 

 Trawling Acts as prohibited seining in Upper 

 Loch Fyne. They regarded these excepted 

 regulations as objectionable in themselves, but 

 nevertheless necessary in the interest of peace. 

 They also recommended the passage of an Act 

 securing police supervision at sea, so as to prevent 

 disputes among fishermen, and provide easy means 

 of obtaining legal redress. 



