SALMON AND FRESHWATER FISHERIES BILL (Hansard, 13 June 1972)

§ VISCOUNT DILHORNE
My Lords, I beg to move that this Bill be now read a third time. I fully explained its contents and effect on Second Reading and I do not propose to do so again tonight for I am sure that your Lordships would not wish me to do so. But there are a 770 few things I wish to say. A number of Amendments have been made in this House and I think that I can claim that the Bill is now a better Bill than it was when it came here. It remains, I think, a Bill which is not controversial and so I hope that the Amendments made will be accepted without objection in another place. It is a useful Bill, and I think the first major Bill to implement proposals made by the Bledisloe Committee. I hope it will not be the last Bill on this subject to come before this Parliament for I would have liked this Bill to have gone further. I simply cannot accept the view of the Ministry's advisers that sufficient salmon are getting up to spawn to maintain the stocks. I am sure that those who live and work on our rivers, and who know what is happening, will tell a very different story: that stocks have seriously diminished in recent years and have now reached a dangerously low level, and that unless something is done pretty soon, salmon 771 fishing and salmon netting may soon become a thing of the past. That has already happened on some rivers on the continent and it could easily happen here.
Only the other day I was speaking to a very experienced ghillie on an English river. He had been there for many years and spends every day on the river. He was very concerned about the future for he had seen far, far fewer smolts going down than used to be the case. As a result of many factors, U.D.N., netting off Greenland, drift netting, poaching and illegal fishing, and not least netting at the mouths of and in rivers, the position is now, in my belief, very serious indeed. I think that it is necessary that there should be a Bill which would give river authorities power to limit fishing and netting on the rivers in their areas—either to limit catches or the hours within which fishing may take place, whether by rod or line or netting, for what may be short periods when the conditions are such that the fish are being hit very hard. I know that there are restrictions on netting now, but I want to see some much more flexible powers so that when the rivers are low and there are a lot of fish waiting to get up they should not be decimated by netting. I also think that at some times, and on some beats on some rivers there is far too much fishing with rod and line and too many fish are taken out for the good of the river. This Bill does something towards that end by giving power to limit the number of nets used and with regard to illegal fishing and poaching, but I fear it is not enough to meet what is now really required.
I believe that there are between 2 and 3 million people who get pleasure from fishing. "Angling", Izaak Walton said, "may be said to be so like mathematics that it can never be fully learnt". I must confess that mathematics have never had any attraction for me, but it is one of the attractions of fishing that one is always learning. In addition to those who fish for pleasure, there are many many people who derive their income, or part of their income, from it—ghillies, hotel proprietors, tackle dealers and so on. There are, I am told, some 2,000 commercial fishermen to whom the well-being of salmon is all important. All of them are interested in preserving our stocks of 772 fish, and as this Bill does something towards attaining that object I commend it to the House.
I do ask the noble and learned Lord the Lord Chancellor, if this Bill is passed, to consider the question of consolidation. The 1923 Act is the main Act. It has been amended by fisheries Bills five times, and a good deal of this Bill is legislation by reference. Indeed, parts of it are almost incomprehensible without study of the main Act. It really would be a great convenience if these Acts were consolidated.
I should like to thank those of your Lordships who have attended the debates on the Bill for the way in which you have received it, and again to thank my noble friend Lord Bledisloe for the work he did in preparing his Report. That must have meant much labour. The Report has been the basis for this Bill. I am glad that lie has been able to be here and to contribute to our discussions. I ask your Lordships to give the Bill a Third Reading.

§ LORD HOY
My Lords, I rise to say one or two words in support of this Bill and also to associate my noble friends with the tribute paid to the noble Viscount, Lord Bledisloe. Indeed, when one thinks how long the noble Viscount has had to wait to see even parts of his Report put into law, one realises that he has had infinite patience.
This Bill goes a step along the road in the right direction, but I agree with the noble and learned Viscount, Lord Dilhorne, that perhaps the Government might have a more extensive look at the salmon fishing industry. Some few years ago in Scotland we thought that we had solved the problem, and the Government of that day introduced a ban on drift-netting. Quite obviously it was not drift-netting that was causing all the trouble. The troubles were further afield, though some, on the other hand, were nearer at home, at the river mouths. We shall not solve this problem by piecemeal legislation and I should like to add my word of support to the request made by the noble and learned Viscount with regard to the consolidation of legislation.
It was my duty on many occasions to introduce Bills and Orders in another place dealing with the fishing industry, 773 and we were always in the difficulty of having quoted some Acts of Parliament or Orders that had been made, and there seemed to be a conglomeration of them. If, arising from this very short Bill, we take this step in the right direction and then, as a result of the suggestion that has been made, the Government consider consolidation of the present legislation—we shall have done very well. I am grateful for the opportunity of supporting the Third Reading of the Bill.

EARL FERRERS
My Lords, before this Bill is passed I should like to say how grateful the Government are for the fact that the noble and learned Viscount has now got this Bill through all its stages. We welcome the Bill. It will be a great improvement on the existing state of the law, and if the noble and learned Viscount would like to see all the salmon fisheries legislation consolidated I am sure that it is a great aim and that my noble and learned friend the Lord Chancellor will bear it in mind. Whether or not he will be able to do it I am not in a position to say, but my noble and learned friend will certainly take note of what the noble and learned Viscount has said. Be that as it may, this Bill will be a great advantage to all people involved in salmon fishing, and indeed it will be an aid to the conservation of salmon stocks. For this I am sure that everyone will be grateful.