INDUSTRIES 



regulated. In 1888, however, the Sea Fisheries 

 Regulation Act was passed, and this empowered 

 the county and borough councils of the country 

 to form committees for the regulation of the 

 local fisheries within certain defined areas. Lan- 

 cashire is notable as being one of the first to take 

 advantage of this enactment and to form a sea 

 fishery authority in 1890, and at the present time 

 the sea fishery committee so formed is not only the 

 largest and wealthiest, but also the most progres- 

 sive of the English sea-fishery authorities. The 

 magnitude of the fisheries along the coast line, 

 and the large rateable value of the contributory 

 area have enabled the sea-fishery committee to 

 attempt a real regulation of the industry within 

 their jurisdiction. The committee was first of 

 all a purely Lancashire one, but later on an 

 amalgamation was effected with Cheshire, and in 

 1900 the joint committee so formed was amal- 

 gamated with the Western Sea-Fisheries Com- 

 mittee which had control over the fisheries of 

 the coasts of Wales as far south as the extremity 

 of Cardiganshire. At the present time the joint 

 committee has jurisdiction over the fisheries of 

 the coasts of Lancashire, Cheshire, Flint, Den- 

 bigh, Anglesey, Merioneth, and Cardigan — an 

 area of coast-line of about 441 statute miles in ex- 

 tent. The authority is constituted as follows : — 

 Four representatives from Liverpool and Man- 

 chester, sixteen representatives from county 

 boroughs in Lancashire and Cheshire, eight 

 representatives from the Lancashire County 

 Coimcil, two representatives from the Cheshire 

 County Council, ten representatives from Welsh 

 County Coimcils, eleven representatives from the 

 Boards of Conservators, and, finally, twenty-nine 

 members appointed by the Board of Agriculture 

 and Fisheries, making in all a committee of 

 eighty members. For the purposes of adminis- 

 tration this committee raises a rate by a precept 

 issued on the contributing authorities of the 

 various county and borough areas — a rate which, 

 in the fiscal year 1903-4, amounted to only 

 3-64ths of a penny in the £^^ but which was 

 sufficient to raise a sum of i£5,592. Of this 

 amount Lancashire contributed ;^4,588 ; Che- 

 shire, ^522 ; and the W^elsh counties only ;^482. 

 The Lancashire and Welsh divisions of the joint 

 area are indeed very unequal in almost every 

 respect ; the rateable value of the Welsh counties 

 is quite inadequate to meeting by itself the ex- 

 penses of a proper administration of the Welsh 

 area ; and the amount of fishing which is carried 

 on in Wales is trifling when compared with that 

 of Lancashire. The amalgamation of the two 

 areas was, however, considered necessary in view 

 of the amount of fishing which is carried on 



' A rate of l-64th of a penny is levied on the 

 Lancashire area for the expenses of scientific investi- 

 gation. This raised £'1,774. Cheshire and Wales 

 do not contribute to the expenses of scientific work. 



in Welsh waters by Lancashire boats, and in 

 order to secure uniformity in the system of 

 regulations. 



The joint committee so constituted provides 

 for the superintendence of the fisheries along the 

 extensive coast-line under their control by the 

 establishment of a number of ' bailiff^'s ' stations, 

 each of which is provided with a sailing cutter 

 for patrolling the area of which the station is the 

 centre. At each station there is a ' bailiff' in 

 charge of the district, and from one to three 

 under-bailifFs. Such stations have been established 

 at Fleetwood, New Brighton, Carnarvon, Pwllheli, 

 and New Quay. In addition to these stations 

 there are a number of stations where an officer is 

 situated who devotes only a portion of his time 

 to fisheries superintendence, and who is paid only 

 a small salary. The sailing boats are, of course, 

 unable to go far to sea, and it is necessary to 

 provide for patrol work out at sea and in 

 weather when it would be impossible for the 

 cutters to work, so that the committee have a 

 steamer which supplements the work of the sail- 

 ing boats, and exercises a general control over 

 their work. The staff consists of a clerk, who 

 is administrative head ; a superintendent ; the 

 captain of the steamer, and eleven of a crew, who 

 are also fishery officers ; eighteen bailifls ; ' hono- 

 rary ' bailiffs, and a clerical staff at the superin- 

 tendent's office, which is at Preston. In addition 

 to this police staff there is a scientific staff, which 

 consists of a scientist at Piel, in the Barrow 

 Channel, where there is a marine laboratory, and 

 a similar official at the university at Liverpool, 

 where there is also a fishery laboratory. There 

 is also an honorary director of scientific work 

 who acts as scientific adviser to the committee. 



The duties of this staff of officers is as fol- 

 lows : — 



(i) The administration of the regulations in 

 force ; (2) the collection of statistics of the 

 amount of fish landed, the numbers of men and 

 boats and other matters on which information is 

 required ; and (3) the prosecution of scientific 

 inquiries. 



The regulations in force at the present time 

 are somewhat numerous and complicated. Trawl- 

 ing is the subject of several — the principal 

 restrictions being (i) the total prohibition of fish- 

 ing by steam vessels within the territorial waters ; 

 (2) the restriction of the dimensions of the trawl- 

 net and the size of the mesh ; and (3) some 

 restriction on the places in which trawling may 

 be carried on. Thus, an area of about 10 square 

 miles off Blackpool is ' closed entirely against 

 trawling in every form.' Throughout the greater 

 part of the district a mesh of I ^ in. from knot to 

 knot may be used, but within certain lines drawn 

 from headland to headland on various parts of 

 the coast a mesh of if in. must be employed. 

 These restrictions are, however, very compli- 

 cated, the incidence of the various regulations 



415 



