Mr. WEIRasked the Lord Advocate, whether he is aware that the fishing beds off the coast of Lewis have been so depleted of fish through illegal trawling that the line fishermen located in the fishermen's dwellings at Battery Park, Stornoway, having found it quite impossible to follow their calling with success, have recently petitioned the Government to give them access to the land; whether, seeing that the line-fishing industry in the island of Lewis is being rapidly ruined through illegal trawling, he will state on how many days during last year the shores of Lewis were visited by a Fishery Board cruiser; 1767W and if he will arrange for trawlers visiting those waters to be more closely-watched in future?
§ Mr. UREI am not aware that the Lewis fishing beds have been depleted, as suggested in the question; on the contrary, the catches made by local line fishermen during the last two years have, according to reports received by the Fishery Board, been exceptionally good. I may add that only four complaints of illegal trawling were received by the Board from the Lews in 1910, and that the Lewis coast was visited by cruisers as often as the resources at the Board's disposal permitted, and not1768W less on the average than once in every five or six days in the year.