HC Deb 15 January 1996 vol 269 cc450-3W
Mr. David Porter

To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food if he will make a statement on his policy in respect of removing more fishing vessels from the British fleet; what proposals he has to do this in accordance with the payment of adequate compensation to(a) vessel owners, (b) boat crews, (c) shore engineers and (d) merchants; and if he will make a statement. [8398]

Mr. Baldry

Under the terms of the EU's multi-annual guidance programme, the United Kingdom has to meet targets for the reduction of fishing effort in the period 1993–96, of which at least 55 per cent. must be achieved by the removal of capacity. Three rounds of decommissioning have already taken place and a further £24 million remains available.

Compensation to vessel owners takes the form of decommissioning grant, the amount of which is determined by competitive tender within the rules of the relevant statutory schemes. I have no plans to extend compensation to any other groups. The treatment of crews is already covered by employment law and social security schemes.

Mr. Porter

To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food if he will make a statement on how decommissioning of boats is taken into account when he is determining annual quota allocations for each United Kingdom port. [8397]

Mr. Baldry

The UK's fish quotas are not allocated by port but between the under 10 m fleet, all vessels which are 10 m or under in overall length; the sector, producer organisations whose membership includes vessels over 10 m in overall length; and the non-sector vessels over 10 m in overall length not in membership of producer organisations. The allocations reflect the licensed and registered vessels in each of these groups on 1 January of the quota year. Any vessel which had been decommissioned—deregistered and its licence surrendered—before 1 January would not be included in the distribution of allocation for the following year.

Mr. Porter

To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food how much money will have been paid(a) to Spanish fishermen and (b) to British boat-owners for decommissioning, in each of the past two years and in total by 1 April 1997; and if he will make a statement. [8401]

Mr. Baldry

In the United Kingdom, we spent £7.8 million in 1993 and £8.8 million in 1994 on decommissioning under the relevant UK statutory schemes. In the period 1993 to 1997, it is currently planned that a total of some £41 million will be paid, with a further £12 million available for 1997–98.

I have no information about expenditure in Spain.

Mr. Porter

To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food how many fishing vessels(a) registered in the United Kingdom and (b) registered by country in other countries, are fishing against United Kingdom total allowable catches for all species with effect from 1 January 1996; and if he will make a statement. [8391]

Mr. Baldry

Only fishing vessels registered in the United Kingdom, the Channel Islands and the Isle of Man and holding fishing licences issued by the fisheries departments may fish for profit against UK quota. At I January 1996, some 8,500 vessels were licensed to fish for profit although not all vessels are entitled to fish for the full range of stocks subject to quota.

Mr. Porter

To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food how many British registered fishing vessels will have been decommissioned by 31 March 1996; and how many non-British registered fishing vessels, by country will be fishing in what were formerly British waters and fishing current British quotas by the same date. [8399]

Mr. Baldry

Under the United Kingdom's decommissioning schemes, for which only British registered vessels are eligible, a total of 297 vessels were decommissioned in 1993 and 1994. Applications in respect of a further 164 have been accepted under the 1995 scheme and owners have until 29 February 1996 to scrap their vessels.

No non-British registered fishing vessels are able to fish against British quotas in any waters.

Mr. Porter

To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what plans he has further to restrict fishing effort beyond the 1996 total allowable catch and further to reduce the fleet size; and if he will make a statement. [8365]

Mr. Baldry

Conservation policy requires a combination of measures to limit exploitation rates, including output limitation in the form of total allowable catches, TACs, and input limitations such as the reduction of fleet size through multi-annual guidance programmes, MAGPs. Decisions on TACs beyond 1996 will be taken by the Council of Ministers in the normal way. Decisions on the next series of MAGPs, covering the period 1997–99, are due to be taken this year. The UK will play a full and constructive role in all these discussions.

Mr. Porter

To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what plans he has to change the decommissioning scheme to find alternative uses for boats besides scrapping them; and if he will make a statement. [8366]

Mr. Baldry

It is a requirement of Council regulation 3699/93 that decommissioned vessels are permanently excluded from fishing in Community waters and that vessels of less than 25 gross registered tonnes have to be scrapped to qualify for Community aid. In other cases, experience has shown that it is only by requiring vessels to he made permanently unseaworthy that we can guarantee meeting our obligations. Nevertheless, I am always willing to consider any suggestions an applicant may make for alternatives to scrapping which provide the same degree of certainty in protecting public expenditure.

Mr. Porter

To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what priority is accorded to advice from(a) scientists, (b) environmentalists and (c) industry representatives when their advice is conflicting when he is deciding what quota levels to accept in EU negotiations; how much weight is given to (i) economic consequences, (ii) social deprivation and (iii) fisheries dependence; and if he will make a statement. [8406]

Mr. Baldry

I am very concerned about the socio-economic consequences of changes to fisheries quotas. My priority is therefore to achieve the best possible deal for the fishing industry. To do this effectively, I take account of the scientific advice and the need to conserve the sea's resources.

Mr. Porter

To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what priority he attaches to the relative stability in setting quotas following the Factortame judgment of the European Court of Justice; and if he will make a statement. [8396]

Mr. Baldry

The UK has enjoyed considerable benefit from the application of relative stability as the basis for the apportionment of EU total allowable catches between members states. Although, following the Factortame judgment, we are unable to preclude vessels owned by interests from other member states from joining the UK register, the process of registration does not automatically confer access to UK fish quotas. A vessel must be licensed to fish and since new licences are no longer issued on demand, any vessel wishing to join the UK fishing fleet can do so only by acquiring a licence from a previously licensed vessel.

Mr. Porter

To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food if he will make it his policy to amend the relative stability element of the common fisheries policy so that a quota in any species cannot be reduced in any year by more than a predetermined percentage figure from the previous year; and if he will make a statement. [8404]

Mr. Baldry

It is my policy to avoid unnecessarily sharp reductions in quotas. However, if a stock is declining rapidly, limiting the quota reduction to a predetermined percentage figure could have disastrous consequences with the fishery having to be completely closed in the following year. I believe that this is something that we should always seek to avoid.

Mr. Porter

To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food (1) what assessment he has made of the economic impact of quota reductions in the 1996 total allowable catches in respect of each United Kingdom port; and if he will make a statement; [8372]

(2) what assessment he has made of the information the EU Fisheries Commissioner holds on the diversity and impact of quota reductions on each part of the United Kingdom fishing industry with effect from 1 January 1996; and if he will make a statement. [8374]

Mr. Baldry

The reason for reducing certain fish quotas is to conserve stocks and thereby to ensure the future economic viability of the industry.

The European Commission takes account of the impact of quota reductions throughout the Community when it makes its proposals for total allowable catches. At the start of the negotiations on TACs for 1996, the level of UK quotas being considered for the stocks of most importance to our fishermen was some 88,000 tonnes lower than our 1995 quotas in cod equivalent terms. As a result of changes agreed at the Fisheries Council on 21–22 December 1995, the final level of quotas for the same stocks was some 34,000 lower than our 1995 quotas. This represents approximately £15 million in 1995 market prices.

Mr. Porter

To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what plans he has to re-organise quota allocations and both sector and non-sector management on a purely regional basis; which regions he expects to recognise; and if he will make a statement. [8386]

Mr. Baldry

I have no plans to reorganise quota allocation and management on a regional basis. Fish producer organisations, which are responsible for the day-to-day management of the greater part of UK quotas, already operate on a regional basis. I have, however, made it clear to the fishing industry that I am prepared to look at proposals for changing the present management arrangements provided these are practicable and command wide support.