MORAY FIRTH (FOREIGN TRAWLERS). (Hansard, 24 February 1931)

§ Major McKENZIE WOOD
I wish to take the opportunity on the Motion for the Adjournment to raise a question regarding which I put a question to the Secretary of State for Scotland earlier to-day, namely, the grave damage that has been suffered in the last few days by fishermen in the Moray Firth from foreign trawlers. Feeling along the 2094 Moray Firth is running high at the present time, and I am sure that the right hon. Gentleman will understand that it is highly desirable, not only that something should be done to stop the damage, but also to reassure the fishermen that something is being done to help them to carry on their peaceful avocation.
The fishermen who have been affected are the cod-net fishermen. Cod-net fishing in the Moray Firth is of comparatively recent growth. It is a method or fishing carried out by the setting up of a long fence of nets fixed to the bottom of the sea, and those nets may stretch, on occasion, to something like two miles. The fishing has become very valuable of recent years, and it is highly desirable that everything possible should be done to enable the fishermen to go on with it and to develop it, particularly at this time of the year when other forms of fishing are not available to them. The great difficulty is the trawling that goes 2095 on in the Moray Firth. Nearly the whole of my lifetime I have heard of the troubles of fishermen in the Moray Firth, and I can remember the time when the law was passed to prohibit trawling altogether.
That law has not been effective against foreigners. It is true that on one occasion a foreign skipper was put in gaol, but he was immediately released at the instance of the Foreign Office, and the present position is that, while British trawlers may not trawl in the Moray Firth, foreign trawlers are allowed to roam at will, and I am sorry to say that they do a great deal of damage. This has happened year after year, and I have raised it in this House before now. Last year, particularly, a great deal of damage was done, and a promise was made by the Scottish Office that they would make a special effort to try to prevent damage during this present season. I am glad to say that the Scottish Office did really make an effort to put matters on a better footing this year than was the case before and I myself was present at a conference at which efforts were made to warn the foreign trawlers as to the position, and to see if by that means the damage could be kept within bounds, if not entirely stopped. I also did my own part in trying to prevail upon the fishermen along the Moray Firth to mark their nets properly. However, in spite of all that has been done, last week-end a number of trawlers came along, and they have done enormous damage to the nets of these fishermen.
It has been said that the fishermen do not always mark their nets as they ought to do, and on that point I would make two observations. In the first place, I doubt if the method of marking is really as effective as it is supposed to be, because, if you have a stretch of nets two miles long, lights or buoys one at each end and one at the middle do not seem to be a very effective marking; but that is what the fishermen are called upon to do; that is the marking which by law they are supposed to carry out. In any case, the great number of fishermen allege that marking has the very opposite effect that is intended, inasmuch as it attracts the foreign trawlers and shows them where the fish are. Apart from that, my information is that a number 2096 of fishermen who on this occasion undoubtedly marked their nets with lights and in other ways have been among the chief sufferers, and, as I have said, enormous damage has been done, a week ago particularly, and I believe it has been going on since.
There are three questions that I want the Government to answer. The first is, what means are they taking to stop the damage that is being done at the present time? Secondly, what means are being taken to ensure that the fishermen may be able to get compensation for damage which they are able to prove, as I believe some of them may be able to prove, by individual trawlers? Lastly, there is the larger question, what are the Government doing to ensure that, by some sort of international action, some proper system will be devised whereby the foreigners will not be able to come into the Firth and have privileges which are not open to our own trawlers? It is an intolerable situation, as everyone must admit, that foreign trawlers should be enabled to do what British trawlers are not allowed to do. For at least 10 years, within my own knowledge, this question has been raised, and the Government have been pressed to take the matter up with the League of Nations. I cannot but believe that if the British Government had pressed the matter as strongly as they ought to have done, we should have been able, by this time, to report some real progress. It is really time that some solid progress was made, because the feeling among the fishermen is running very high indeed, and it is difficult to say what may happen unless they have some assurance that the Government at last are going to do something.

§ Mr. BOOTHBY
I would like to put one point to the Secretary of State. He knows as well as I do that this question of trawling by foreign trawlers in the Moray Firth has been a running sore for 10 years. I do not believe, however many cruisers he sends, that he will get down to the root of this problem, it will be left over, until he can persuade the foreigners to ratify the treaties under which foreign trawlers are permitted to trawl in the Moray Firth, whereas our own trawlers are not allowed to do so. I hope he will tell us whether there is any hope of bringing these treaties under 2097 review, because until and unless we can do that there is no hope of solving the problem.

§ The SECRETARY of STATE for SCOTLAND (Mr. William Adamson)
It is a, pity that we have such a short time at our disposal for this very important question, but I will attempt to deal with some aspects of the difficulty. To begin with, I am well aware of the large amount of feeling that has been engendered in the Moray Firth in regard to this question. On the other hand, the question raises difficulties of an international character which are not easily disposed of. The Government are not responsible for the difficulties. They have inherited them from previous Governments of the parties to which both hon. Members belong. However anxious we may be to review them, we have to consider what the reflex action of their removal would mean in other directions. The Government fully recognise the difficulty that arises in connection with fishing in the Moray Firth, and will do all in their power to prevent or to reduce the damage to the fishermen's gear. This fishing is conducted during the early part of each year at a considerable distance from the shore and, I understand, well outside the three mile limit. The practice of the fishermen is to shoot the nets and leave them unattended in the sea for one or more nights. They then return and haul the nets and go to port with their catch. At this point, I should like to put in this remark—that to leave the nets unattended for one or more nights seems rather risky. The trouble which has arisen during recent years is due to the fact that foreign trawlers visit the Moray Firth at the same period for the purpose of catching the spawning cod, and the complaint is that some of these trawlers destroy the nets by working the ground where the nets are laid. It is the case that in recent years considerable damage has been done to the nets and the gear of the cod net fishermen, and it appears that damage to a considerable amount has been done during the past fortnight or so. Foreign trawlers in present circumstances without reference to international arrangements cannot be prevented from working in the waters of the Moray Firth outside the three-mile 2098 limit. Therefore, if the fishermen leave their cod nets in these waters they have only the same rights of protection as they would have in any other part of the North Sea outside the three-mile limit.
We have been asked what we have been doing with regard to this matter. First let me say that as the North Sea Convention has rather a restricted application to this matter, the Government have made efforts to procure additional protection for the cod net fishermen by seeking the good offices of the Governments of the countries from which these trawlers come, namely, Belgium and Holland. Each year, before the commencement of the cod fishing season, the Foreign Office, at the request of my Department, have asked the Netherlands and Belgian Governments to advise their trawlers to take precautions to avoid the cod nets if possible. Each year there has been a favourable response, but on several occasions it has been pointed out by these foreign Governments that if the cod nets are left unattended without proper marks and lights, it is impossible for the foreign trawlers to avoid them. In addition to the steps that have been taken with foreign Governments, we have issued regulations for the cod net fishermen to marks the buoys and to light their nets, so that the foreign trawlers can see them and avoid them. If I had time I could tell hon. Members what has occurred in regard to the regulations that we have attempted to get the fishermen to observe.

§ Mr. DUNCAN MILLAR
What about the question of compensation?

§ Mr. ADAMSON
I have not time to go into that question now. In addition to these two very important things we have been doing, we are closely examining what has occurred within recent days with a view to having this question fully discussed from the point of view of more precautions being taken by foreign trawlers and also from the point of view of seeing whether it is not possible for us to secure compensation—