§ 39. Mr. Hector Hughesasked the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs if he is aware that the Icelandic delegate at the Geneva Conference on the Law of the Sea rejected the United States-Canadian-British compromise on the ground that it would prejudice and deplete the spawning grounds and thereby injure the fisheries of many of the nations concerned; if he will state the scientific answer to this; whether that scientific answer was put forward at the Geneva Conference; and with what result.
§ Mr. R. AllanThe statement to which the hon. and learned Gentleman refers was made by the Icelandic delegate in support of his own Government's proposal that certain States should enjoy preferential fishing rights outside their exclusive fishery limits. I am advised that there is no scientific basis for this, certainly in respect of the cod stocks which form the major part of the catch in the waters off Iceland. This was made clear by my right hon. Friend the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food in his speech to the Conference on 25th April. On 26th April, the Conference rejected the Icelandic proposal.
§ Mr. HughesWhy was not that made clear at Geneva? Does the hon. Gentleman realise that Britain is losing economically and otherwise by the failure of the Government to agree with the other nations at Geneva?
§ Mr. AllanI have just said that it was made clear at Geneva by a speech of 209 my right hon. Friend. It is quite untrue to say that it is this Government who have failed to agree. In numerous speeches my right hon. Friend made clear how willing we were to reach an agreement and how prepared he and the industry were to make sacrifices to obtain it.