Mr. LEICESTER HARMSWORTHasked the President of the Board of Trade whether the Committee recently appointed to inquire into the present condition of the inshore fisheries will take evidence in regard to the manner in which trawling has affected the inshore fisheries of the Moray Firth?
§ Mr. RUNCIMANThe Committee is directly concerned only with the inshore fisheries of England and Wales, and not with Scottish fisheries, which are subject to the jurisdiction of the Fishery Board of Scotland. It will be for the Committee to decide what information it will need as to the experience of other parts of the United Kingdom.
Mr. LEICESTER HARMSWORTHalso asked the Secretary for Scotland whether the Fishery Board for Scotland continues to allow the fines recovered for breaches of the Fishery Board by-laws to be applied to the accumulation of funds for the purchase of a Fishery Board cruiser for the further protection of the interests of the line fishermen against the depredations of illegal trawling; and, if so, will he state the present amount of the fund?
Mr. McKINNON WOODThe fines referred to continue to be paid into the Board's Marine Superintendence Fund, in accordance with the provisions of the Sea 2009W Fisheries (Scotland) Application of Penalties Act, 1907. The purpose to which they are applicable is the provision and maintenance of vessels for marine superintendence, and the amount of the Grant for this purpose, irrespective of fines, is £15,000 per annum, the great bulk of which is spent in maintaining the vessels. It is not the case that the fines are specially devoted to the prospective purchase of an additional vessel: they are not kept separate from the general fund; and any savings on the general expenditure are devoted to building up a reserve fund for renewals and contingencies, the present amount of which is £10,875.