lii 



Twenty-ninth Annual Report 



Shetland, and West Coast respectively, while 1 occurred on the 

 North Coast. 



Tlie total fines imposed amounted to £2005, the maximum penalty 

 of £100 having been inflicted in 12 cases. Of this sum, £543 16s. 8d. 

 was paid, 18 of the accused having chosen the alternative of imprison- 

 ment, and 2 hanng absconded. The net sum realised for the sale of 

 forfeited gear, etc., was £202 2s. 7d. 



Four of the detections were reported by fishermen or private 

 individuals, 1 by H.M.S. " Eingdove," and 26 by the Board's cruisers. 

 Full particulars are contained in Appendix K, No. II. 



Appendix K, No. IV., is a summary of details of prosecutions for 

 illegal trawling undertaken from 1886 to 1910. During that period 

 694 prosecutions have been instituted, in 628 of which a conviction 

 was obtained. The fines imposed amount to £29,995, of which 

 £13,191 has been paid. 



PROSECUTIONS FOR OTHER OFFENCES. 



In Appendix K, No. III., particulars are given of prosecutions 

 against the masters of British and foreign vessels, and fishermen, for 

 offences other than illegal trawling. The number of such cases in 

 1910 was 27, as compared with 11 in 1909, and 12 in 1908. 



There were 9 cases — in the Clyde area — of breaches of the law 

 against daylight fishing, one more than in the previous year ; 4 cases 

 of trawling at night without proper lights, and one of trawling with 

 letters and numbers concealed (the masters in each of these instances 

 being, of coui-se, simultaneously convicted for illegal trawling) ; and 

 one case against a trawler for interfering with drift-net or long-line 

 fishing in contravention of Article XIX. of the North Sea Convention. 



The additional prosecutions in 1910 arose chiefly from contraven- 

 tions of the Board's Byelaws No. 18 (4 cases) and No. 19 (8 cases). 

 The former of these Byelaws prohibited seine-net trawling for herrings 

 on the Ballantrae Bank from 15th January to 31st March in each 

 year, and was of an experimental nature. It was repealed in the 

 course of the year, and as the repeal was in contemplation at the time 

 when the offences occurred, the penalties imposed were only nominal. 

 Byelaw 19 regulates the gathering of cockles on the Trigh Vore, 

 Barra, and was passed in 1902 at the request of the inhabitants, 

 among whom, however, there seems now to be considerable division 

 of opinion on the matter. The remoteness of the area and local 

 circumstances make it difficult to enforce the law with great stringency. 

 The Board have at present under consideration the question of modi- 

 fying or repealing the regulation. 



CASUALTIES. 



Particulars of the number of Scottish fishermen who lost their lives 

 in the prosecution of their calling, and of the pecuniary loss sustained 

 through casualties to boats or gear, will be found in Appendix F, 

 No. III. 



Forty-six fatal accidents occurred in 1910, four less than in the 

 previous year. Of these, 21 were the result of boats foundering at 

 sea, 15 men were drowned through falling overboard, and 5 through 



