§ MR. HEDDERWICKI beg to ask the Lord Advocate whether his attention has been drawn to the recent statement of the captain of the Danish trawler Dania, who arrived in Aberdeen from the Moray Firth on the 13th February, to the effect that he left three other Danish trawlers in the Firth, and that very poor catches are being obtained there, the scarcity being due to the Germans having been fishing in the Firth all last winter; and, whether, having regard to the rapid denudation of so valuable a fishery indicated by the above statement, the Government will take active and immediate steps to secure the adequate protection of the native line fishermen and the preservation of their industry from the continued depredations of trawlers?
MR. GRAHAM MURRAYI am informed by the Board that a statement in the terms quoted was recently made to the Fishery Officer at Aberdeen by the captain of the Dania, but that they have no means of verifying it. The line fishermen, I am also informed, complain of a scarcity of haddocks, but the complaints are general and not confined to the Moray Firth.