of the Fishery Board for Scotland. 



5 



the fishermen themselves, and it is essential that those who are serving 

 on boats in which they have no interest should be released in time to 

 take delivery of their own vessels. 



Generally speaking, the things to avoid are release of vessels in 

 advance of the capacity to recondition them and to provide them with 

 the necessary fishing gear, and the sending of the men home long 

 distances by rail. 



(ii) Disposal of Admiralty Trawlers and Drifters. 



During the progress of the war the Admiralty found it necessary 

 to supplement the pr i vat ely- owned craft hired by them by building 

 trawlers and drifters of their own, and while a certain number of 

 the trawlers will have to be employed for some time to come in sweep- 

 ing the sea clear of mines, the remainder will fall to be disposed of to 

 the best 'advantage. 



Various proposals have been put forward for their disposal, viz., 

 (1) by sale in the open market ; (2) by sale to owners in place of 

 vessels lost on service ; and (3) by sale to skippers and other fisher- 

 men who have served in the Navy during the war, the purchase price 

 to be repaid in instalments of principal and interest over a fixed period. 



It is incontestable that the second and third proposals are deserving 

 of serious consideration, particularly the latter — and for two reasons, 

 (1) these men have done yeoman service at comparatively low rates 

 of pay, while their fellows who remained fishing have reaped enormous 

 earnings, and (2) it is very desirable that the principle of fisherman 

 ownership, which is almost universal in the Scottish herring fishery, 

 should be extended in the trawling industry, especially in view of 

 the probable lack of recruits for the fishing fleet. The existence of 

 a family interest and the attendant incentive to thrift and inde- 

 pendence are factors which would help materially to solve this 

 difficulty. It cannot be gainsaid that the Scottish herring fisherman 

 who owns a share in his own boat or in the gear is a fine type of man 

 — enterprising, industrious, and self-respecting, and the thriving com- 

 munities of well-educated and healthy families on the East Coast are 

 the best testimony to the principle. Any scheme which would 

 achieve this end is worthy of favourable consideration. 



(iii) Employment of Discharged Sailors and Soldiers. 



The substantial additions made during the war to the fleet of 

 motor fishing boats have created a demand for experienced motor 

 drivers. Many of those hitherto employed have had only a superficial 

 knowledge of the mechanism of the engines, and the result has been 

 that in some cases engines have been ruined through ignorance, and in 

 many others the boat has had to be laid up to await repairs which could 

 have been effected by a man who had gone through a course of training. 



To meet this deficiency and the fresh demands which are likely 

 to arise in the near future schemes have been drawn up by the Board 

 in conjunction with certain Disablement Committees (Pensions) for 

 the training of discharged sailors and soldiers, preferably those hailing 

 from villages on the coast, in the theory and practice of motor engineer- 

 ing. By means of such a scheme men disabled in the war will be 



