xlii 
Eighth Annual Report of the 
TERRITORIAL WATERS CLOSED AGAINST BEAM 
TRAWLING. 
Bye-laws of 
Board closing 
certain waters 
against 
trawling satis- 
factory to 
fishermen. 
Act passed 
closing all 
territorial 
waters round 
the coasts of 
Scotland. 
Two bye -laws 
made. 
As formerly reported, the Board, under the powers conferred 
upon them by the Sea Fisheries (Scotland) Amendment Act, 1885, 
made bye-laws, from time to time, which were confirmed by the 
Secretary for Scotland, closing different parts of the territorial 
waters on the East Coast of Scotland against beam trawling. This 
action of the Board gave great satisfaction to the line and drift- 
net fishermen specially interested in the areas so closed, but those 
fishermen who prosecuted their calling in other territorial waters 
were greatly dissatisfied that those waters had not been dealt with 
in like manner, and they expressed a very strong desire that beam 
trawling should be prohibited in them also, and indeed in the whole 
of the territorial waters Found the Scottish oasts. 
The Board deemed it desirable, in the interest of the fisheries, 
that, with certain exceptions, this should be done, but they had no 
power to make a bye-law giving effect to it. Thereafter, however, 
the Herring Fishery (Scotland) Act, 1889, was passed. Besides other 
provisions, it enacts — sec. 6 (1) — that it shall not be lawful to use the 
method of fishing known as beam trawling or otter trawling within 
three miles of low-water mark of any part of the coast of Scotland, 
nor within the waters specified in the schedule thereto annexed 
('which schedule includes the bye laws of this Board) save only 
between such points on the coast or within such other defined areas 
as may from time to time be permitted by the Board's bye-laws, if 
confirmed by the Secretary for Scotland, and subject to any 
conditions or regulations made by those bye-laws : Provided that 
this section shall not apply to the Solway Firth or to the Pentland 
Firth. This statute further enacts — sec. 6 (3) — that any person 
who uses any method of fishing in contravention of this enactment 
or of any bye-law of this Board, shall be liable, on conviction under 
the Summary Jurisdiction (Scotland) Act, to a fine not exceeding 
five pounds for the first offence, and not exceeding twenty pounds 
for the second or any subsequent offence; and every net set, or 
attempted to be set, in contravention of this section shall be 
forfeited, and may be seized and destroyed or otherwise, disposed 
of by any superintendent of the herring fishery or other officers 
employed in the execution of the Herring Fishery (Scotland) Acts. 
Last year, after this Act was passed, the Board, under the powers 
it conferred upon them, made two bye-laws, both of which were 
duly confirmed by your Lordship. One of these is in the follow- 
ing terms : — 
Bye-law (No. 6) made by the Fishery Board for Scotland, under the powers 
conferred on the Board by the Sea Fisheries (Scotland) Amendment 
Act, 1885, and the Herring Fishery (Scotland) Act, 1889. 
I. This bye-law shall extend and apply to the waters inside of a line drawn 
from Garroch Head,ilsland of Bute, to Gull Point, Little Cumbrae, and 
thence to Portincross Castle on the Ayrshire coast, and a line drawn 
irom Colintraive Hotel, Argyleshire, to a point due south (magnetic) 
on the Island of Bute. 
II. From and after the date when this bye-law shall come into force until 
the 30th April 1890 inclusive, and thereafter from the 1st of August to 
