§ 14. Mr. HarrisTo ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food how many successful prosecutions for fishing offences have been sustained in the past three years; and how many of these were against (a) Spanish and (b) Anglo-Spanish vessels. [20949]
§ Mr. JackIn the last three years, 171, 182 and 135 vessels have been prosecuted, of which three, four and five respectively were Spanish registered and 16, 11 and 10 were United Kingdom registered landing into Spain.
§ Mr. HarrisI thank my hon. Friend for those figures. How on earth will we ensure effective policing from 1 January next year, when 40 Spanish vessels will be allowed into the waters of the Irish box? Will he give this House and, more particularly, the fishermen of the south-west of England an absolute assurance that we shall do everything in our power to ensure proper enforcement and that the Spanish do not get away with breaking all the rules in the book, which is what they have been doing until now?
§ Mr. JackMy hon. Friend, who represents the fishing interests in his constituency with distinction, is right to make those points. Once the June Fisheries Council has agreed the final terms of the enforcement regime associated with the changed arrangements in western waters, we will carefully ensure that our resources are adequate for the job. As a result of keeping the Spanish out of the Irish sea and the Bristol channel, only one tenth of the portion of the Irish box that remains will be British territorial waters for the purposes of fishery protection. The remaining nine tenths will be policed by the Irish Republic and I can assure my hon. Friend that I will be in close contact with my opposite number in the Republic about joint arrangements to ensure full and effective enforcement.
§ Mrs. EwingI listened with interest to the statistics that the Minister gave, but will he tell us by whom the prosecutions were brought?
§ Mr. JackThe prosecutions, when the coastal state involved was the United Kingdom, were brought by the United Kingdom Government.
§ Mr. John TownendWhat influence does the Foreign Office have on the enthusiasm and the frequency with which we enforce fishing regulations on the Spanish fleet? Does the Minister understand why British fishermen are 432 perturbed—they will be even more perturbed when they read in Hansard the figures that he gave today—that we have arrested many fewer Spanish vessels than the Irish? Even if we accept that their waters are greater, it shows that we have not been as enthusiastic as we should have been.
§ Mr. JackI assure my hon. Friend that I have received no representations from my colleagues in the Foreign and Commonwealth Office to take it easy on enforcement. My hon. Friend may not have noticed that, during the Easter recess, the Spanish-registered vessel Chimbote was the subject of vigorous prosecution and its master had to pay some £34,000 in fines. My hon. Friend may have gained the impression that we are less enthusiastic than the Irish Republic on enforcement, but the bulk of the Spanish fleet fishes to the west of Ireland in Irish territorial waters, which restricts our opportunity to inspect. I assure him, however, that we make 5,000 inspections a year and, wherever we find vessels of any European Union member state breaking the rules, we unstintingly prosecute.
§ Rev. Martin SmythThe Minister will be aware that fishermen claim that they have not been properly policed. How far does the Minister expect the new satellite system to help, and where will it work in the first instance?
§ Mr. JackThe hon. Gentleman is right to refer to the trials that are now taking place throughout the European Union in the use of satellites to monitor the location of fishing vessels. If proven technically correct, satellite systems can deal with the location of fishing vessels but cannot identify what vessels are doing or their minimum fish or net sizes. Those matters still require the intervention of the coastal state to make on-board inspections. As I said a moment ago to my hon. Friend the Member for St. Ives (Mr. Harris) in the context of western waters, we shall ensure that our resources are man enough for the job.
Following is the information:
The numbers of fishing vessels successfully prosecuted in the United Kingdom in the last three years were: 1992 1993 1994 All vessels 171 182 135 Spanish registered vessels 3 4 5 UK registered vessels landing into Spain 16 11 10