§ Mr. IRVINGasked the Parliamentary Secretary to the Board of Agriculture (1) what progress has been made by the Fish Food Committee of the Board in the development of their scheme, as outlined to the Lancashire and Western Sea Fisheries Committee on the 1st November, 1918, to combine with extensive transplantation and provision for cleansing experiments in various new methods of cultivation of mussels in Morecambe Bay; whether up to the present any mussels have either been transplanted or cleansed by the Board in this area;
(2) whether, in view of the failure on the part of the Board to put into effective operation an extensive scheme for transplantation and cleansing of mussels in Morecambe Bay, the Board will now give further consideration to the draft Provisional Order for the regulation of the shellfish in Morecambe Bay, submitted to the Board by the Lancashire and Western Sea Fisheries Committee on the 14th January, 1916?
Sir A. BOSCAWENThe Fish Food Committee has ceased to exist, but the developmental work of the Committee has been taken over by the Board so far as circumstances have permitted. A careful survey of the Morecambe area showed that the only areas which were previously suitable for the transplantation of the mussels had been silted up and were not now available. No new areas suitable for any extensive transplantations were discovered. The withdrawal of funds allocated to the Fish Food Committee necessitated the suspension of operations, and the Board are now considering the whole question of the control of shellfish fisheries with the Ministry of Health. I should accordingly prefer for the present to defer consideration of the provision of an Order, which in any event could not be introduced until next Session.