§ Mr. MitchellTo ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food if he will estimate the financial effect on the Government of the EU Commissioners' proposal to achieve the required reduction in fishing for MAGP IV exclusively through cuts in fleet capacity; and what fleet cuts would be required in Britain for the remaining 18 months of the programme. [124452]
§ Mr. MorleyIf adopted, the suggested measures would require a cut in the UK fishing fleet of 8 per cent. over the two years 2001–02, representing about 22,000 tonnes of capacity.
It is not possible to make an accurate estimate of the likely cost of decommissioning this tonnage through a voluntary grant scheme. Based on the average level of successful bids under the most recent scheme in 1997, it would be about £75 million. But the cost would be substantially higher since there would have to be sizeable cuts in those profitable fleet segments which have hitherto shown little interest in voluntary decommissioning schemes. Cuts of this scale over such a time period are not ones we think are feasible or that we could support.