Fishery Board for Scotland. 



Ixvii 



' register of fishing boats, in so many cases of considerable tonnage, 

 ' and giving over them as good security for a mortgage as over 

 ' small merchant ships.' It is time that the question should be 

 considered and a remedy applied. 



MARINE POLICE and FISHERY SUPERINTENDENCE. 



In regard to the Sea Fisheries Act, 1883, and the North Sea gea Fisheries 

 Fisheries Convention, it was intimated by the Board of Trade to Act, 1883, and 

 this Board that they had received a report by Rear- Admiral ^sherilr 

 Goifdon Douglas and Mr H. Noel Malan, who had, as mentioned in Convention, 

 last year's Report, been appointed to conduct a joint inquiiy JJJJg^JiJ^^Q^^y 

 respecting the measures to be adopted for giving effect to the Fishermen, 

 above Statutes. In that Report they stated that the Act and 

 the Convention appeared to be imperfectly understood by fisher- 

 men, if, indeed, in the north they were acquainted with them at 

 all, and they suggested that the chief provisions of these measures 

 should be embodied in plain terms in a placard to be posted 

 up at such places as were frequented by fishermen. A placard Placard and 

 was accordingly prepared by the Board of Trade and communi- Pamphlet con- 

 cated through the Secretary of State, and this Board, through RegSations 

 their officers, got it posted up and circulated in the fishing prepared and < 

 districts on the coasts of Scotland. Further, this Board, with ^i^^uiated. 

 the concurrence of the Board of Trade, compiled and printed a 

 small pamphlet in a popular form, for the guidance of fishermen 

 on the Scottish coasts, containing a summary of the chief regula- 

 tions now in force under the Sea Fisheries Act, 1883, and relative 

 Statutes, and supplied their officers with copies of the pamphlet, 

 with instructions to give one to every master or owner of a fishing 

 boat of the 1st or 2nd class in their respective districts. A copy 

 of this pamphlet will be found in Appendix H. 



By the 5th section of the Sea Fisheries (Scotland) Amendment Board charged 

 Act, 1885, it is required that every British sea fishing boat with enforcing 

 propelled by steam, fishing in any part of the sea adjoining ^Xj-teHna^'^ 

 Scotland, shall, in addition to being lettered and numbered in terms and Numbering 

 of the regulations under the Sea Fisheries Acts and relative Orders ^^^o^*^- 

 in Council, have the letters and numbers painted on the quarter 

 and on the funnel ; and it is enacted that it shall be the duty of 

 the Board to enforce the provisions of these Acts and Orders in 

 Council, by directing their officers to use the powers conferred upon 

 sea fishery officers. The Board, in fulfilment of the duty with steps taken to 

 ^hich they are thus charged, issued a circular to their officers carry out this 

 drawing their special attention to this subject, and also containing 

 instructions for carrying the regulations into effect in regard to the 

 lettering and numbering of all sea-fishing boats. They further 

 directed them to make a special inspection of all the beam trawl instructions to 

 vessels and fishing boats in their respective districts along Fishery 

 the coast, in order to ascertain whether they were properly 

 lettered and numbered in terms of the regulations ; and 

 wherever they found any disregard in respect thereto, to warn 

 their owners or masters that, unless the law was strictly observed, 

 it would be their duty to take legal proceedings against them for 

 its enforcement. The officers were also instructed to report the 



