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While few of the world’s maritime forces have histo- jjes dating from the 19th century, the Royal Navy’s Nshery Protection Squadron can trace its ancestry for than 600 years. In 1379. the East Anglian port of ■armouth provided guardships for the local fishing fleet as it worked the newly discovered North Sea grounds. “°rne 200 years later, official archives record that the K°yal Navy took over the task, but at an annual cost of *-'00. The expansion of the English fishing industry soon j°°k its ships even further afield, into Newfoundland, celandic, and Greenland waters.
Consequently, in 1586, two years before the Armada Spain, the Admiralty provided a “Wafting Ship.”
™s ship annually escorted the fishing fleet to the distant water grounds in late March and remained until the sea- s°n ended in the early fall to provide protection against P’rates, privateers, and the more turbulent elements among the fishing community.
Since then, the Royal Navy has maintained a near c°ntinuous presence among the fisheries, although in the n'°re enlightened 18th and 19th centuries, the warring Powers usually treated fishermen as noncombatants.
. ndeniably, those early fisheries were also a source of ^formation and fresh victuals in the days of salt beef and hard tack.
Over the years, hundreds of British sea officers were engaged in fishery protection duties, then as now leam- *n§ their trade in the hardest of all maritime schools.
ne of the most noteworthy of these was Captain Hora- .|Q Nelson, once Captain, Fishery Protection, who served 111 "M.S Albemarle between 1781 and 1783 (albeit, a "reat deal of this time was spent in the West Indies.)
'n time, the various nations concerned recognized the j^d to codify and standardize European fisheries’ legis- atl°n, and, as a result, signed a major treaty in 1883. H'tially, it only covered the North Sea, but more re- ent'y its writ has been extended to include the north- est Atlantic. However, the ships engaged in fishery Pr°tection duties still fly the squadron pendant specified by the original agreement. The first dedicated Royal Navy Fishery Protection ship, the gunboat HMS Hearty, entered service in 1891, replacing ships assigned to the task on an ad hoc basis, and this policy of providing full-time assets continues.
As might be expected, both world wars caused serious loss and disruption to the industry, with hundreds of fishing vessels being requisitioned for a multitude of tasks and the squadron dispersed to carry out escort duties and countless other tasks. In 1945, the squadron was reformed to include a mix of sloops and ocean minesweepers, whose combined “beat” stretched from the White Sea southward by way of Bear Island, Greenland, and Iceland to the Southwest Approaches. In the late 1950s, the first of several “Cod Wars” with Iceland required the presence of Royal Navy ships of up to fleet- destroyer size to protect trawlers working in the disputed areas.
In time, international agreement on the Law of the Sea recognized the right of nations to extend their territorial waters, and in 1976, the United Kingdom ceased any meaningful fishing activity off Iceland as well as extended its own iimits to 200 nautical miles. In turn, this ended long-range fishery protection requirements, creating a much greater concentration of effort on territorial and inshore waters. Smaller fishery protection vessels were commissioned during the latter part of the 1970s and early 1980s, although the inshore task was by no means a new one and previously had seen trials with hovercraft, gas-turbine fast patrol boats, and a Boeing Jetfoil.
Squadron headquarters had long been shore-based at Port Edgar on the south bank of the Forth estuary, but in 1976 this facility closed as a result of tightened defense spending, and the operation moved across the firth to Rosyth dockyard. Simultaneously, the task was expanded to include the surveillance and protection of the United Kingdom’s vital offshore oil and gas installations.
—By James D. Ferguson
■its to
°'ved
ensure their legality for the areas
1 and the type of catch coming on Cen ' 'n the case of foreign vessels, liter^ are checked against lists of ships
fitted
to work within U. K. waters, as
CfTti
ifterS^'°n with the skipper, and normally tphe gear is hauled in, so that the in- 0n.dl0n can include an assessment of the fj^cck catch as well as that in the hold, to party measures the catch at random bej SUre that immature stocks are not Caught, and studies log books for learp ^te catc'1 records. In addition, the H^J^Pects net mesh sizes and attach- itiv, ’
apojjn countries have negotiated agreed- (if t(lena,T1'5ers- Spain (a recent member 'or c-Cropean Economic Community), Cen$ejarnP'e’ has 150 of its vessels li; and Fishery Protection ships sUreln up-to-date lists of names to en- c°nipliance.
Despite ever-changing, complex regulations, contravention is, in fact, rare, and various remedies are open to commanding officers. Several types of warning are available, but where the alleged offense is deemed to be serious enough for an arrest, then the offending vessel is escorted to the nearest port for trial by the civil authorities. Evidence is required for the charge to stand up in court, and the boarding party’s composition reflects this need, with the first lieutenant typically accompanied by at least one other officer or a senior rating. (Scottish law requires at least two witnesses for corroboration.)
Boathandling: A 16-foot Avon “Sea- rider” rigid-hull inflatable, with an 85- horsepower outboard motor capable of 45 knots, is used for boardings. The normal crew size is two, and long squadron experience allows the “Searider” to be used in sea states well above the capabilities of most standard warship small boats. In fact, accidents are rare, and as far as can be ascertained, the squadron has sustained neither loss of life nor serious injury during boarding work.
This kind of small boat operation in all weather or at night calls for high standards of practical seamanship, and only the most highly qualified coxswains are permitted to take their craft away in bad conditions. Captain Chestnutt stressed that this kind of applied seamanship was one of the squadron’s main strengths: “We obviously have to run a very thorough training program for our ‘Searider’ crews, and this is in addition to the instruction provided as standard throughout the fleet. Our ships are on the small side . . . and a
95
n8s/June 1988