§ MR. HARRY FOSTER (Suffolk, Lowestoft)I beg to ask the President of the Board of Trade if any and what steps have been taken to secure an International Conference or an International Convention amongst those nations interested in the North Sea Fisheries for the purpose of carrying out any of the recommendations of the Select Committee of this House, whose Report was presented to this House in August 1893; and, if not, why no action has been taken?
§ THE PRESIDENT OF THE BOARD OF TRADE (Mr. J. BRYCE,) Aberdeen, S.The recommendations of the Select Committee regarding international arrangements for regulating the North Sea Fisheries are continuing to engage the attention of the Board of Trade and the Foreign Office, but the negotiation of International Conventions is attended with considerable difficulties, and the results are not always successful. In view of the time which must elapse before there is any prospect of arriving at an international agreement to which so many Maritime Powers would have to be parties, it has been thought desirable to proceed at once with one portion of the recommendations of the Select Committee, which can be dealt with by this country alone—namely, the prohibition of the sale of undersized fish.
§ MR. HARRY FOSTERwished to know whether any communication had been made to the foreign Maritime Powers on the lines recommended by the Committee.
§ MR. BRYCEsaid, this was rather a matter for the Foreign Office, but so far as he knew no communication had yet been made.