§ Sir G. RENTOULasked the First Lord of the Admiralty what arrangements exist for the policing of the fishing coasts of Great Britain and for the protection of the fishermen from illegal trawling?
Mr. ALEXANDERThe policing of sea fisheries is governed mainly by the Convention concluded at Paris on 2nd August, 1839, between Her Majesty and the King of the French; and the International Convention for the purpose of regulating the1314W police of the fisheries in the North Sea outside territorial waters signed in 1882 by the United Kingdom, Germany, Belgium, Denmark, France and Holland. The duties are entrusted to the Captain of Fisheries and Minesweeping who has under his orders three sloops and seven gunboats. Vessels are also maintained by the Fishery Board for Scotland and by some of the local fishery district committees.