40 



Thirty-ninth Annual Report 



Hebrides, the " Brenda " on the East Coast and Firth of Forth, and 

 the " Vigilant " in the Clyde area. 



In October it was unfortunately found necessary to withdraw the 

 " Brenda " on account of the complete failure of her boiler after 

 twenty-two years' constant use. Arrangements for the supply of a 

 new boiler were immediately put in hand, and to fill the gap the 

 drifter " Maelstrom " was fitted out for patrol duty and was manned 

 by the officers and crew of the " Brenda." She was employed on the 

 East Coast and the Firth of Forth. Extensive overhauls were 

 also necessary to the " Freya," " Minna " and " Vigilant." The cost of 

 reconditioning was heavy, charges generally being from two to three 

 times higher than in pre-war years. 



The principal function of the fishery cruisers is the prevention, 

 rather than the detection, of contraventions of the law, and in the 

 fulfilment of this function the cruisers steamed over 53,472 knots on 

 patrol duty in the course of the year. Thirty-eight detections were 

 made by them of vessels engaged in illegal fishing, while numerous 

 breaches of the lettering, numbering and lighting regulations were 

 dealt with, and investigations were made and reports furnished on 

 various matters. The following summary gives details of some of 

 the work carried out by the various cruisers during the year. 











;l Brenda ;; 



: 



Particulars. 



"Noma." 



" Freya." 



"Minna." 



or " Mael- 



"Vigilant."; 









i 



strom." 



Number of days at sea - 



203 



219 



171 



163 



187 



Number of knots steamed 



15,872 



11,053 



9,283 



9,402 



7,862 



Detections of illegal 









trawling - 



4 



2 



2 



14 



7 



Detections of illegal fish- 













ing other than trawling 





2 





6 



1 



Boats detained for 













marking - 



53 



65 



49 



66 



85 



Boats cautioned for 













lighting 





3 





4 



85 



Foreign trawlers observed 



7 



10 





4 





Number of occasions seen 



13 



14 





2 





In addition to the detections effected by the Board's cruisers, the 

 Admiralty vessel detected 3 cases, coastguardsmen 20, and fishermen 

 and other private individuals 16. A satisfactory feature is the 

 number of conviotions which have been secured through the efforts 

 of fishermen, frequently at inconvenience and risk to themselves. 



Illegal fishing was most prevalent off the East Coast, where there 

 were 39 detections in all during the year. Next in order came the 

 Firth of Clyde area with 17, followed by Moray Firth with 12, West 

 Coast with 5 and North Coast with 4. The detections off the 

 East Coast included numerous cases of seine-net fishing in St. 

 Andrews and Carnoustie Bays. 



The calls upon the sea fishery police service were for two reasons 

 heavier during 1920 than ever before. In the first place, the intro- 

 duction of a smaller class of steam trawler, for which at present 

 there is a great demand on account of their low running costs 



