SALMON AND MIGRATORY TROUT (PROHIBITION OF DRIFT- NET FISHING) ORDER, 1962 (Hansard, 24 July 1962)

§ THE MINISTER OF STATE, SCOTTISH OFFICE (LORD CRAIGTON)
My Lords, I beg to move that the Salmon and Migratory Trout (Prohibition of Drift-net Fishing) Order, 1962, a copy of which was laid before this House on 4th July, 1962, be approved. This 960 Order gives effect to the Government's undertaking to prohibit drift-net fishing for salmon off the coast of Scotland and the Tweed as from September 15, 1962. We have already had full discussions in this House on the difficulties caused in Scotland by the rapid development of drift-net fishing for salmon in the last three years. I must tell your Lordships that the catch taken by drift-net, which had risen from some 9,000 in 1960 to 28,000 in 1961, when we first debated this matter, is this year—and these are the up-to-date figures—already nearly 90,000 salmon and grilse.
The effect of the Order is to prohibit as from September 15, 1962, drift-net fishing for salmon or migratory trout in the specified area off the coast of Scotland and the Tweed. It applies to all fishing boats inside territorial waters; and outside territorial waters to British-owned fishing boats (whether registered or not). The Schedule to the Order defines the area of sea within which the prohibition applies. The Order provides that the prohibition will remain in force until February 15, 1965; that is, for two fishing seasons. We hope that by then we may have the report of the Hunter Committee, which has been appointed to review the whole law on salmon and trout fisheries; at least we might have an Interim Report on the question of drift-net fishing for salmon. We shall then have complete freedom of action, as the Acts under which this Order is made permit it to be varied or revoked at any time. I beg to move.

§ LORD BALFOUR OF INCHRYE
My Lords, I should like to welcome this Order, and in doing so I would say how sorry I am personally, as I am sure are other noble Lords in your Lordships' House, that the noble Earl, Lord Waldegrave, who paid so much attention and trouble to this matter, has felt it necessary, for his own reasons, to leave Her Majesty's Government, and how grateful we are to him for his efforts in this particular direction, as indeed we are to the Minister who has just moved this Order and to his Department. I think your Lordships' House 961 can be pleased with this Order, in that it was your Lordships' House that gave, in June, 1961, the first strong public expression in either House of Parliament on the menace of drift-net fishing; and the consumation of your Lordships' opinion is seen in the Order to-day.
The Order, under Section 10 of the Act, applies outside the three-mile (limit of the Tweed area to British ships only. Even if in practice it is not economic for foreign vessels to drift-net and to return to their bases, this is an anomaly which seems to me to add strength to the case for an extension of our territorial fishing limits beyond the three miles. This country is in almost glorious isolation in retaining the three-mile limit. But a most serious gap, to which I must draw your Lordships' attention, seams to me to exist and may very largely nullify the effects of the Order which your Lordships are at present asked to pass. If your Lordships refer to the Sea Fisheries Act, 1962, Section 12 was described by the noble Lord, Lord Craigton, on Second Reading of the Bill on May 17, as follows [OFFICIAL REPORT, Vol. 240 (No. 80), col. 793]: Clause 12 enables Ministers to make an order banning the landing of salmon and trout which have been caught in any waters by any particular method of fishing. That clause would apply to foreign as well as British ships. This power to ban landings would normally be used in support of a prohibition or a licensing order, and the clause contains the provision that exceptions may be made to a landings ban, so that, for example, boats licensed to fish under a licensing system could land their catch. There is no Order before your Lordships' House under this Section 12. Therefore, it seems to me to be free to foreign ships to come and drift net just outside the three-mile limit, then to come and land their catches at Eyemouth or at Aberdeen and then go out and do the same and come back and land their catches again. That is a tremendous gap in this protection of salmon and trout, if my reading of the situation is right. If, however, the Minister has the intention of issuing an Order under Section 12 then indeed the Order under Section 12 and the Order under Section 10 will be complementary to each other and the picture will be complete. So my question to the Minister is this: have 962 the Government any intention of issuing these Orders complementary to that we are now asked to pass, in order completely to safeguard the position? I trust the answer will be in the affirmative. We thank the Government for going as far as they have gone, but we ask them to go still further in the direction I have indicated to your Lordships.

§ LORD BOOTHBY
My Lords, I apologise for trespassing on your Lordships' time for a second time this afternon, but it will be for only two minutes. I realise very well that on this issue I am a solitary voice crying in the wilderness. I myself am not satisfied that drift-net fishing for salmon is the main danger to the salmon stocks of this country and Scotland. I believe that river pollution and the fearful execution of salmon now carried out in the estuaries of the rivers by means of what can only be described as industrial fishing are far more dangerous than drift net. I would ask the noble Lord, Lord Craigton, to give an assurance (indeed he has done so) that the situation will be reconsidered in the light of the Report of the Hunter Committee. In conclusion, I should like to reinforce the argument of my noble friend Lord Balfour of Inchrye in which he pleaded for an extension of fishing limits in this country. This Order is not going to operate fairly as between British fishermen and foreign fishermen. The noble Lord well knows that I have been fighting for 40 years in vain for an extension of fishing limits in this country and for the protection of the Moray Firth and the Minch, and why the Government do not respond I do not know.

§ LORD GREENHILL
My Lords, I also should like to associate myself with what has been said by the noble Lord, Lord Balfour of Inchrye, and the noble Lord, Lord Boothby, because I think that the present tendency is to extract all that can possibly be taken from the sea, to which they do not provide the fish that are being extracted, and to do nothing whatever to protect one of our most valuable assets in the country as a whole. I should like very much to see two things: one, an extension of limits within which fishing may be done; and, secondly, the utmost and most stringent measures being adopted in order to prevent this widespread over-fishing of 963 salmon and sea trout. I would go further, too, and associate myself with what the noble Lord, Lord Boothby, said in connection with ensuring that the effluents in our rivers do not poison the fish already swimming around our shores.

§ LORD FORBES
My Lords, if the noble Lord, Lord Boothby, wants drift netting to continue, I can assure the noble Lord he will be doing a great disservice to Scotland. Salmon are one of Scotland's great natural resources. Scotland has not so many natural resources that she is able to throw one of them down the river. Even if this Order comes in, I am quite certain that the salmon stock will not recover for at least another ten years, and it is up to us to see that all of our natural resources are conserved.

THE DUKE OF ATHOLL
My Lords, might I just ask my noble friend how far out into the sea around the coasts of Scotland this Order extends, and whether he is satisfied that this includes all the sea which it is technically possible for British boats to drift net? I do welcome this Order, and I am sure he is going to introduce a complementary one under Clause 12.

§ LORD CRAIGTON
My Lords, the answer to the noble Duke is that the area covers the whole coast of Scotland; it is, as it were, a box, from the Tweed to the north of Shetland, along the top, and down to about the middle of Northern Ireland; it covers the whole area in which we are advised it is worth while, or possible, to fish for salmon.
I am grateful to the noble Lord, Lord Balfour of Inchrye, and to other noble Lords for the welcome they have given to this Order. I am not very worried about the solitary voice of the noble Lord, Lord Boothby, because, of course, I agree that there are other dangers to the salmon stock. But, my word, 90,000 salmon caught up to now this year is, to my mind, by far the greatest danger of any of which we are aware. However, I agree with him and my noble friend behind me in hoping for real, constructive help from the Hunter Committee. This whole matter is thoroughly overdue for examination, I agree with my noble friend Lord Forbes that salmon is one 964 of Scotland's greatest natural resources, and we intend to preserve it by every means. In answer to the noble Lord, Lord Balfour of Inchrye, about the landing ban, of course we are not discussing Chat now, because that Order is subject to the Negative Resolution procedure and would have to be prayed against. The Salmon and Migratory Trout (Drift-Net Fishing) Restrictions on Landing Order was laid before this House on July 4. It is made under Section 12 of the Act and bans landing of fish caught in the area to which the prohibition applies.

§ LORD BALFOUR OF INCHRYE
My Lords, may I apologise to the noble Lord? I was fishing in Newfoundland on July 4, so I missed it.

§ LORD CRAIGTON
I thought the noble Lord was very interested in this and there must have been a good reason for him to miss it. On the question of fishery limits, to which noble Lords referred, as your Lordships know, the Government are at present reviewing (and I have said this before) the whole question of fishery limits in the light (and I have said this before, too) of all relevant circumstances. However, this question, as your Lordships know, raises very much wider issues. But a development of drift-net fishing for salmon by foreigners would be an important new factor to be taken into account in any consideration.