§ Lord Mason of Barnsleyasked Her Majesty's Government:
Whether they will list those members of the North Atlantic Salmon Conservation Organisation who have ceased drift netting for salmon and those which still carry on this practice.
§ The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food (Baroness Trumpington)We understand that of the nine contracting parties to the North Atlantic Salmon Conservation Organisation, drift netting for salmon takes place in the USSR, Finland, the European Community and Greenland (which is represented in the organisation by Denmark as a separate contracting party for this purpose). The remaining contracting parties (Canada, USA, Iceland, Sweden and Norway) have either never used drift nets or have ceased to do so.
§ Lord Mason of Barnsleyasked Her Majesty's Government:
What steps they are contemplating to stop drift netting off the United Kingdom coastline.
§ Baroness TrumpingtonDrift netting is an historic and commonly used method of fishing for a wide variety of species of fish in the United Kingdom. Drift netting for salmon or migratory trout in coastal waters of Scotland has been banned since 1962. There are no present plans to impose further controls on drift netting for salmon or other species off the UK coastline.
As the noble Lord will be aware, Section 39 of the Salmon Act 1986 requires Ministers to submit to Parliament a report reviewing salmon netting off the coasts of North East England and Eastern Scotland. Work on that review is under way and it will cover drift netting. It would not of course be appropriate to pre-empt the outcome of that review.