§ SIR WILLIAM WEDDERBURN (Banffshire)I beg to ask the Lord Advocate whether he is aware that foreign trawlers, after making catches in the Moray Firth, do not ordinarily leave the Firth for periods sufficient to reach foreign ports; whether he will inquire into the allegation that they deliver their catches during the night to carrier boats which convey them to Aberdeen, and other Scottish ports; and whether he will take steps to stop this practice if it is found to exist.
§ *THE LORD ADVOCATE (Mr. A. GRAHAM MURRAY,) ButeshireI am. informed by the Fishery Board that they have no reason to suppose that such a practice is followed, nor do they think it could be carried out, except in very favourable weather, and in daylight. From information furnished to them by the commanders of their cruisers, it would appear that foreign trawlers do certainly remain away from the Moray Firth sufficiently long to convey their catches to English or foreign ports, as during the past eighteen months the majority were not seen in the Firth on more than four or five separate occasions, and at the present time there are only two foreign trawlers seen occasionally fishing in the Firth.