Fishing Industry (Hansard, 22 December 1997)

§ Mr. Morley

The Commission announced on 17 December that it had adopted the objectives for all 13 maritime Member States, details of which are to be published shortly in a series of Commission Decisions addressed to the Member States concerned.

The full table applying to the United Kingdom which we expect to appear in the Official Journal is reproduced as follows:

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United Kingdom: Decision on MAGP IV
						Situation I January 1997	Objective 31 December 1996	Objective 31 December 2001
Stocks	Segment	Fishery	Catch composition (per cent.)	Pilot rate (per cent.)	Weighted reduction (per cent.)	GT⁴	kW	GT⁴	kW	GT⁴¹ x t (¹000)	kW x t (¹000)	GT⁴	kW	GT⁴ x t (¹000)	kW x t (¹000)
EU waters
Palegic	Palegic trawl and Purse seines	North Sea Herring IV.VIId
	DR: 69
	OF: 3
	Others: 28	30	21.8	—	—	—	—	1,660	3,841	—	—	1,301	3,009
		Western palagic Vb.VI, VII ex Vlld VIII	DR:0
		OF: 65
		Others: 35	20	13.0	—	—	—	—	4,981	11,524	—	—	4,334	10,028
		External waters (Atlanto- scandian herring)		—	—	—	—	—	—	0	0	—	—	²570	²1,036
		Blue whiting IV, VI, VII, VIII				—	—	—	—	0	0	—	—	²460	²644
Segment totals3						37,453	71,876	34,876	82,168	6,641	15,365	34,876	82,168	6,665	14,717
EU waters
Flatfish	Beam trawl	Flatfish IV	DR:63
	OF: I
			Others: 36	30	19.2	—	—	—	3,988	15,529	—	—	—	3,221	12,542
		Flatfish VII, VI	DR: 11
		OF: 17 Others: 71	30	8.0	—	—	—	—	2,092	7,234	—	—	1,917	6,631
Segment totals⁴						28,240	117,616	26,062	103,054	6,080	22,763	26,062	103,054	5,138	19,173
EU waters
Demersal	Demersal trawls seines, Nephrops	Demersal IV, Vb, VI, VII, VIII	DR: 18
	OF: 29
	Others: 53	30	14.2	116,581	400,127	120,630	422,876	29,119	98,210	120,630	422,876	24,993	84,294
EU waters
Demersal and pelagic	Lines and nets		DR: 15
	OF: 13
	Others: 72	30	8.3	16,431	51,977	15,854	67,364	—	—	14,538	61,744	—	—
Shellfish (and demersal)	Shellfish fixed		DR: 1
	OF:0
	Others: 99	25	0.4	6,413	44,463	6,267	35,895	—	—	6,242	35,768	—	—
EU waters
Shellfish (and demersal)	Shellfish mobile		DR: 1
	OF: 1
	Other: 97	25	0.6	11,766	55,648	11,615	51,232	—	—	11,552	50,958	—	—
EU waters
Demersal	Distant water	EU waters⁵	DR: 5
			OF: 21
			Others: 74	30	7.9	11,980	19,721	11,296	18,062	2,899	4,510	11,296	18,062	2,670	4,154
International waters
External	DR: 5
		waters⁶	OF: 0
			Others: 100			5,458	7,133	3,587	5,679	—	—	3,587	5,679	—	—
		Sub total				234,322	768,561	230,187	786,330	—	—	228,783	780,309	—	—
		Total				254,442	1,054,928	252,088	1,072,484	—	—	250,684	1,066,463	—	—
DR = Depletion risk.
OF = Overfished.
¹ Includes estimated GT values in accordance with article 4 of the present Decision. The objectives will be revised as real GT values become available.
² The objectives for 2001 for these fisheries are based on the levels of effort in 1996 and 1997. These objectives are subject to review in the light of the development of the fisheries.
³ The capacity objectives for 1996 have been increased by 2,108 GT, representing 45 per cent, of the backlog from the MAGP III.
⁴ The capacity objectives for 1996 have been increased by 1,782 GT and 11,914 kW, representing 45 per cent, of the backlog from the MAGP III.
⁵ Vessels fishing at least half the time in external waters. The capacity objectives for 1996 have been increased by 560 GT and 1,357 kW, representing 45 per cent, of the backlog from the MAGP III.
⁶ Vessels fishing exclusively outside EU waters. The objectives for this fishery are provisional and may be revised within the provisions of Article 8 of Council Decision 97/413/EC.

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The figures do not take account of the expected take up of decommissioning grants under the 1997 Scheme, nor of other changes in the fleet register since the end of 1996, notably in the pelagic segment. When allowance is made for these factors, the effective reductions now required to meet the MAGP IV objectives are currently estimated as follows:

Estimated rates of reduction required to implement the UK's objectives for MAGP in the light of the current UK fleet position and projected take up of 1997 decommissioning scheme
Segment	Fishery	Estimated capacity/activity reduction
Pelagic trawls and purse seines	North Sea herring	36 per cent. effort reduction
	Western pelagic	29 per cent. effort reduction
	Atlanto-Scandian herring	Effort not to exceed 1996 level
Blue whiting	Effort not to exceed 1997 level
Beam trawl	North Sea	19 per cent. effort reduction
	Area VII	8 per cent. effort reduction
Demersal and nephrop trawls and seines	—	Monitor and maintain effort within recent levels
Lines and nets	—	Reduce fleet tonnage by 7 per cent.
Shellfish mobile gears	—	Tonnage objective already met.
Shellfish fixed gears	—	Tonnage objective already met.
Distant water fleet	Mixed External and EU waters (over 50 per cent. non-EU)	Tonnage objective already met.
	Non-EU waters only	Maintain capacity in line with fishing opportunities
Small scale coastal under 10 metres	—	Tonnage objective already met