asked the Secretary of State for Scotland how many fishery offences have been reported within the territorial waters for which his Department is responsible in each of the past five years; and how these figures compare with those in other areas of the United Kingdom's territorial seas.

Records of fishery offences are held by reference to statutory fishery limits and not by reference to United Kingdom territorial waters. The following table shows convictions for offences committed at sea within the former 12-mile fishery limit.

Year	Scotland	England and Wales	Northern Ireland
1972	61	31	Nil
1973	42	9	1
1974	29	5	3
1975	32	2	Nil
1976	51	8	3

The figures for England and Wales exclude convictions secured by local sea fisheries committees operated by county councils which are responsible for enforcing their own byelaws within territorial waters.