HC Deb 30 October 1980 vol 991 cc681-3
6. Mr. McQuarrie

asked the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food if, as a result of his discussions with the European Council, he is now in a position to make a full statement on the common agricultural and fisheries policies which are due to come into operation on 1 January 1981.

Mr. Peter Walker

I am not aware of any significant aspects of the common agricultural policy due to come into force on 1 January 1981 and shall therefore confine my reply to the common fisheries policy. Further steady progress towards a revised CFP was made at the Fisheries Council on 28 October, and on this I shall be making a more detailed statement later today.

Mr. McQuarrie

I am grateful to my right hon. Friend for that reply. I am sure that he has viewed with interest the comments of the hon. Member for Bolsover (Mr. Skinner). We have never heard of Bolsover bass. It is probably a new fish that we shall hear about when the quotas come into being. Will my right hon. Friend confirm that, in making these satisfactory recommendations and decisions on the pout box and policing—especially the policing—there will be policing within the waters to such an extent that it will discourage the unfair competition that our fishermen are experiencing?

Mr. Walker

In reply to my hon. Friend I can perhaps comment on the question put by the hon. Member for Kingston upon Hull, West (Mr. Johnson) to the Minister of State. The policing will be carried out by the member States, as requested by the hon. Gentleman, but I insisted at the Council that the Commission operates a system of supervision to see that all member States carry out their duties properly. I think that the fear of our fishermen is that we shall do our task properly and other countries may not. At the fishing Council it was agreed that the Community should make sure that each member State was carrying out its duties properly.

Mr. McNamara

The right hon. Gentleman has whetted our appetite about his future statement. Can he say whether the policing control will be within 12 miles or 200 miles, whether there will be adequate quotas for our fishermen and whether the conservation schemes will be accepted by the European Community, as our fishing industry requires?

Mr. Walker

The answer to the first question is 200 miles. Quotas will be the subject of the next Council meeting. There are agreed conservation measures, which I believe to be in the interests of our fishermen.

Mr. Bowden

Will my right hon. Friend say what I can tell my inshore fishermen in Brighton, who find increasing difficulty in earning a decent living and whose stocks have been destroyed? What hope have they for the future?

Mr. Walker

One of the most important matters of interest to my hon. Friend's fishermen is that we managed to keep the regulations on beam-trawling, which was such a potential danger to his fishermen.

Mr. Wall

Does my right hon. Friend accept that any agreement on a common fisheries policy will have to include agreement on conservation matters, licensing, quotas and policing? Does he agree that the latter is very important if British fishermen are to get a fair deal?

Mr. Walker

We have made it clear that we will not agree to any common fisheries policy without considering it in totality. Enforcement is a basic issue.