§ Mr. James Johnsonasked the President of the Board of Trade if he will now announce details of the weather advisory service for British trawlers off Iceland this winter.
§ Mr. CroslandI have chartered the stem trawler "Orsino" (1,574 gross tons) and am having the necessary alterations made to accommodate the specialist personnel and to provide a small hospital and additional communications facilities. The ship will sail from Hull on or about 27th November and will be stationed in the sea area north of Iceland from 1st December, 1968 to 30th April, 1969.
The post of Weather Advisory Officer will be filled in turn by officers of the Sea Fisheries Inspectorate of the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, H.M. 59W Coastguard and the Marine Survey Service of the Board of Trade. The Meteorological Office are providing a meteorologist. Two doctors have volunteered to act in turn as medical adviser. I do not propose to appoint a sick berth attendant unless the doctors' experience shows this to be necessary.
60WI am arranging for fuller details and the names of the specialist personnel to be placed in the Library of the House. I shall be presenting a Supplementary Estimate in due course to cover expenditure on this service in 1968–69 but in the meatime any necessary advances will be made from the Civil Contingencies Fund.