§ Mr. SteenTo ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food (1) how anglers' landings are taken into account for quota management purposes when anglers' catches are unknown; [63361]
(2) which EU Member States impose restrictions on sea angling; [63360]
(3) how much fish was caught by sea anglers in (a) January to June 1997, (b) June to December 1997, (c) January to June 1998 and (d) June to September 1998 or other periods in 1997 and 1998 for which figures are available. [63359]
§ Mr. Morley[holding answer 14 December 1998]: European Union regulations on annual total allowable catches and quotas require that all landings be counted against a Member State's share of the total allowable catch for each quota stock. It is for each Member State to decide how its quotas are managed. We do not have detailed information on the management arrangements operating in other Member States although we understand that some have imposed restrictions on sea angling.
The Ministry does not collect information on catches made by vessels engaged in recreational angling. For the purposes of quota management in the UK all vessels used to convey pleasure anglers are, irrespective of their length, grouped with under 10 metre commercial fishing vessels. When therefore fisheries for individual stocks are closed to the under 10 metre commercial fleet by means of statutory prohibition orders, all vessels used to convey anglers fishing for pleasure are also prohibited from landing fish. Closures are imposed when the total available quota allocation for a particular species has been taken.