OUE SEA FISHEEIES. ' 235 



Board have virtually ceased ; but in courtesy to the 

 Honorary Commissioners, it has been allowed to exist. 

 So great has been the demand for fresh fish, and so 

 inactive has become the Board of Fisheries, that the 

 fishermen openly violate the laws by tlie use of illegal 

 nets, at the risk of all consequences. You are all 

 aware that last summer a bill for the better protection 

 of the herring fisheries was brought into Parliament 

 by the Lord Advocate and the Board, of Fisheries, 

 without any one practically connected with the trade 

 being consulted on the subject. The then existing 

 law, which was never enforced, prohibited trawling, 

 and the use of any other net than the regular inch 

 mesh. The present bill was nothing more than a 

 thirty years' bill of indemnity to the Fishery Board 

 for the improper violation of all Acts, and handing 

 them over the full control of the fisheries to do with 

 as they pleased. In fact, the Lord Advocate and the 

 Fishery Board did not object to the system of trawl- 

 ing, while the trade and public were strongly against 

 it. Upon this point a committee in Glasgow was 

 appointed to oppose the bill in Parliament ; and 

 thanks to the able advocacy of our Scotch members 

 for making the present biU what it is, the title only 

 of which is due to the Lord Advocate. The new 

 bill, prohibiting trawling and enacting a close-time 



