§ Mr. GillTo ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food how many fishing vessels were registered in the UK in(a) 1971 and (b) 2000. [146640]
§ Mr. MorleyAt 31 December 2000 there were 7,243 registered fishing vessels in the UK fleet (excluding Channel Islands and Isle of Man).
The available figures for the end of 1971 show there were 6,071 fishing vessels in the UK fleet.
These figures are not directly comparable because the 1971 data covered only UK vessels known to be fishing commercially. Also the coverage of the inshore fleet was likely to have been incomplete.
Source:
UK Sea Fisheries Statistics.