6 



Appendices to Thirty-seventh Annual Report 



enabled to secure healthy and fairly lucrative employment, and owners 

 will be provided with men who can both drive and repair the engines. 



(iv) Eemoval of Wrecks. 



The question ot the removal of wrecks due to the operations of 

 enemy submarines and minelayers which now form an obstruction on 

 the fishing grounds is closely associated with demobilisation, and as 

 the presence of these wrecks involves risk of considerable damage to 

 the gear of fishing vessels, whether engaged in trawling or drift net 

 fishing, it is suggested that steps should be taken without delay to 

 consider the best means of removing or destroying the wrecks. 



It is further suggested that charts showing the position of wrecks 

 in the different areas should be prepared and issued for the informa- 

 tion of fishermen. Such charts will be necessary, particularly for trawl 

 fishermen, even after the destruction of wrecks, as any operations 

 undertaken will probably leave some obstruction on the bottom 

 which may be liable to damage trawl nets. 



(v) Supply of Raw Materials for Fishing. 



In view of the very considerable rise in the prices of material 

 necessary for the construction and repair of ships, it is suggested 

 that means should be taken to regulate such prices as far as possible. 

 So also with regard to supplies of cotton for making nets, wood 

 for making barrels, hemp and manilla for making rope-, and other 

 material necessary to the re-establishment of the industry, similar 

 steps will have to be taken, and, if practicable, stocks of such 

 material built up in anticipation of general demobilisation. 



Cotton and hemp are used so largely in the manufacture of goods 

 for purposes other than fishing that it may be difficult to control 

 the price unless the whole of the supply is commandeered by the 

 Government. Arrangements could be made, however, for regulating 

 the price of the nets and ropes so that they would bear a fair relation 

 to the market price of the raw material, plus oncosts and a reasonable 

 profit. 



Negotiations are proceeding with the manufacturers of the more 

 important articles of gear. 



(vi) Shore Workers. 



With regard to the men employed in the subsidiary industries on 

 shore, particularly those required for essential work of national im- 

 portance connected with the initial stages of the transition from 

 war to peace conditions, it is desirable that men employed in the 

 capacity of ship repairers and carpenters, coopers, rope makers, sail 

 makers, curers, smokers, and other skilled occupations, should be 

 released as early as possible. Negotiations to this end are proceeding 

 with the Demobilisation and Resettlement Department, and the Board 

 has been appointed the Central Authority for Scotland in so far as the 

 fishing industry is concerned. 



