§ MR. LAMONT (Buteshire)I beg to ask the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs whether the British trawler "Arcadia," of Grimsby, which was found fishing in German territorial waters off Nordeny by the German fisheries patrol torpedo-boat S.42, has been brought to Cuxhaven and her captain arrested; and whether the British Government will take similar steps in the case of trawlers flying a foreign flag found fishing illegally in Scottish territorial waters.
I beg further to ask the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs whether he will say how the German territorial waters are delimited in the neighbourhood of Nordeny, and how far within those waters was the trawler "Arcadia" at the time of her capture, and also how far from the shore.
§ MR. J. A. PEASEMy right hon. friend begs to answer both the hon. Member's Questions on this subject together. The limits of territorial waters in the vicinity in question are governed as between this country and Germany by the stipulations of the North Sea Fisheries Convention of 1882. The seizure of the "Arcadia" and the arrest of her master have been reported to my right hon. friend by telegraph by His Majesty's Consul-General at Hamburg, who has instructed the British Vice-Consul at Cuxhaven to watch the case. My right hon. friend has no information as to the precise position of the vessel when she was captured, but he has no reason to suppose that the German Court will arrive at a decision incompatible with Germany's Treaty obligations or with international law, by which the action of His Majesty's Government in regard to the Moray Firth must also be controlled; and the facts of the case cannot be definitely ascertained till it is tried before the Court.