§ LORD EVERSLEYMy Lords, I rise to ask the Secretary for Scotland whether he will state how many fishing vessels under foreign flags were reported to the Scottish Fishery Board in the year 1908 as trawling within the area of sea prohibited by by-laws made under the Herring Fishery Act of 1889, and whether he can state what countries these vessels purported to belong to; whether he will inform the House what are the orders now given by the Scottish Fishery Board to the commanders of their cruisers with reference to the detention or search of trawlers under foreign flags fishing in the areas prohibited under the by-laws of that Department beyond the three-mile limit.
§ LORD PENTLANDMy Lords, in reply to the noble Lord I have to say that the only area closed by by-law which is frequented by trawlers sailing under a foreign flag is the Moray Firth. The following are the detailed figures in 1908:—Norwegian trawlers, fifteen; Swedish, three; Belgian, ten; Danish, nine; Dutch, two. My noble friend will perhaps not expect me to indicate the precise scope of the Fishery Board's confidential instructions; but the ordinary practice is not to search or detain trawlers found fishing under a foreign flag in the prohibited areas outside the three-mile limit.
§ House adjourned at a quarter before Eight o'clock, till To-morrow, half-past Ten o'clock.