§ Mr. JuddWith your leave, Mr. Speaker, and that of the House, I beg to present a petition from the fishermen of Portsmouth, Selsey, Bognor and other neighbouring places on the South Coast. The petition draws attention to the grave consequences of abuse by foreign fishermen of the fishing grounds within the 12-mile limit.
The petition concludes:
Wherefore your petitioners pray that your honourable House do most urgently debate 1092 the conservation of Britain's fishing grounds and do give protection to British inshore fishermen for the full implementation of the clause against intruders in the Convention on the Continental Shelf of 1958, and that your honourable House do approve to ban all beam trawling and the use of weighty chain nets along the South Coast except by local trawl permits to meet area needs and that your honourable House do enforce existing regulations for conservation by establishing a fast, adequate naval patrol system competent to protect all areas under their control and supervision. And urges your honourable House to call for an immediate inquiry on these matters.
§ I emphasise that I completely associate myself with the petition.
§ To lie upon the table.