HL Deb 05 December 1972 vol 337 cc142-3
LORD KENNET

My Lords, I beg leave to ask the second Question which stands in my name on the Order Paper.

The Question was as follows:

To ask Her Majesty's Government what requests they have received from, or what discussions they have held with, the Governments of dependent territories within the last ten years about the extension of fishery controls around those territories beyond the twelve-mile limit.

BARONESS TWEEDSMUIR OF BELHELVIE

My Lords, other than Bermuda, the only dependent territory whose Government have actively pursued the possibility of extending fishing limits beyond twelve miles is the Bahamas. Inquiries have come from two other territories, the Turks and Caicos Islands and the British Solomon Islands Protectorate, about their fishing rights in areas outside twelve miles.

LORD KENNET

My Lords, in general terms, will the Government bear in mind the reported remarks of Mr. Laing, of the British Federation of Trawler Owners, when he said that until free access to fishing grounds is terminated all measures for the conservation of fish would be like trying to keep water in a sieve?

BARONESS TWEEDSMUIR OF BELHELVIE

My Lords, I was not aware of that particular statement, but we do in fact belong to the organisation which is interested in conservation, and particularly so far as it concerns ourselves and the North Atlantic. A State has the right, of course, for purely conservation reasons, to suggest extending her areas but only after consultation and in a nondiscriminatory manner.