§ 41. Mr. Strangasked the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what representations he has received about the extent to which fishermen from other countries within the European Economic Community are catching fish illegally in United Kingdom waters.
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§ Mr. Buchanan-SmithRepresentations, often in fairly general terms, are received from time to time from various organisations and individuals within the United Kingdom fishing industry about alleged illegal fishing by vessels from other European Community member States. Wherever possible, these representations are investigated by our fishery protection forces.
§ 42. Mr. Donald Stewartasked the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what action he proposes to take to improve protection of fishing grounds from illegal trawling.
§ Mr. Buchanan-SmithWe maintain a substantial fishery protection effort and we shall continue to adjust the deployment of our forces as appropriate in the light of changing fishing patterns. Our fishery protection forces carry out a large number of boardings at sea and inspections in port; and whenever we find sufficient evidence of our fisheries regulations being infringed we prosecute.