Agriculture and Fisheries Council

HC Deb 07 January 2003 vol 397 cc80-4W

Mr. Hood

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what the outcome was of the Agriculture and Fisheries Council held in Brussels on 16–19 December; what the Government's stance was on the issues discussed, including its voting record; and if she will make a statement. [89057]

Mr. Morley

My right hon. Friend the Secretary of State and I represented the United Kingdom at the meeting of the Agriculture and Fisheries Council in Brussels on 16–20 December 2002. The Scottish Minister for Environment and Rural Development and the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State with responsibility for Agriculture and Rural Development in Northern Ireland also attended.

The Council, after lengthy negotiation, reached conclusions by qualified majority on the linked matters of Common Fisheries Policy (CFP) reform, urgent measures to bring about the recovery of cod stocks and the setting of total allowable catches (TACs) and quotas for 2003.

On CFP reform, the Council's conclusions were embodied in three new regulations, one addressing the conservation and sustainable exploitation of fishing resources and redefining the basic framework of the CFP, one permitting an emergency Community measure for scrapping fishing vessels, and one amending the provisions concerning Community structural assistance in the fisheries sector. Key features, including some points which the UK fought hard to secure, are: renewal for a further 10 years of the regime confining access to the 6 to 12 mile zones to fishing vessels which have traditionally fished there; renewal of the Shetland Box pending a Commission review during 2003 of all such access restrictions to determine whether their continued application is justified in conservation terms; retention of the principle of relative stability for allocating fishing opportunities among member states on the basis of historical fishing patterns, explicitly including the Hague Preference arrangements which can provide additional fishing opportunities to the UK and Ireland when TACs fall below determined trigger levels; confirmation, in relation to the access which Spain, Portugal and Finland gain to the North Sea from 1 January 2003 under their Treaties of Accession, that there has been no adjustment to allocations of regulated stocks in favour of these member states, which may fish only for unregulated stocks. There is also a commitment to monitor any consequential impact on regulated stocks; commitment to a multi-annual approach to stock management based on recovery plans, involving effort limitation where necessary, for stocks which are outside safe biological limits, and management plans for other stocks. Recovery plans will be developed during 2003 for southern hake, sole in the Western Channel and Bay of Biscay, Rockall haddock, and nephrops in the Cantabrian Sea and off the Iberian peninsula; provision to establish Regional Advisory Councils to improve the participation of fishermen and other stakeholders in the process of managing fisheries; the ending of public aid for the building of fishing vessels at the end of 2004. In the meantime such aid will be restricted to member states who have met national limits on fleet capacity and to vessels under 400 GT. Entry of vessels to the fleet will have to be balanced by the removal of tonnage without aid, in accordance with an entry/exit ratio. Where a vessel of over 100 gross tonnes built with grant aid enters the fleet, vessels equivalent to 135 per cent. of its tonnage must be removed; aid for modernising fishing vessels will be available only for vessels that are at least five-years-old to improve safety, product quality or working conditions, to switch to more selective fishing techniques, or to equip vessels with Vessel Monitoring Systems (VMS); an increase in the maximum rate of EU scrapping grant was agreed, to help member states achieve the decommissioning of vessels whose fishing effort has to be reduced by 25 per cent. or more under the terms of a recovery plan; aid for the permanent transfer of EU vessels to third countries will cease at the end of 2004 and be subjected to conditions in the meantime; a range of improvements will be made to the coherence of enforcement and control arrangements and the imposition of sanctions, with the Commission taking a stronger monitoring and co-ordinating role and VMS being extended to vessels over 18 metres from 1 January 2004 and to vessels over 15 metres from 1 January 2005.

On TACs and quotas, the Council started by examining a Commission proposal whose central element was severe cuts, equating to an 80 per cent. reduction in fishing mortality, in the TACs for the cod stocks for which scientists recommended a fishing moratorium, together with the species (haddock and whiting) most closely associated with them, as well as substantial TAC cuts for other associated species. A solution was negotiated under which higher TACs than proposed by the Commission were adopted alongside an emergency recovery measure for cod based on a much simplified approach which the Commission brought forward in the course of the Council.

The recovery measure is incorporated as Annex XVII to the Regulation setting TACs and quotas for 2003, and will control effort from 1 February 2003 by limiting days which may be spent at sea by vessels which catch cod in the North Sea, West of Scotland and Skaggerak and Kattegat. Vessels under 10 metres in length are not subject to these controls. Different limitations (expressed as numbers of days absent from port per calendar month) are set according to the type of gear carried. Hence some vessels (eg pelagic trawlers) fall outside the scheme altogether, while nephrops vessels will be allowed 25 days per month. The number of days to be allowed for whitefish demersal trawlers was absolutely critical for the UK, given the unacceptable and devastating effect the Commission's opening suggestion of seven days per calendar month would have had on our industry. The eventual outcome was that we secured a commitment that under the terms of the various conditions attached to the limitations in the EU measure, UK whitefish demersal trawlers would be allowed a total of 15 days absent from port per month.

The measure allows for some flexibility to move days between months and between vessels. The operational details for these new arrangements will be worked up urgently, in close consultation with the industry. The Council and Commission envisage that, with this emergency measure in place, a more sophisticated regime will be developed for implementation from 1 July 2003, based on proposals to be brought forward by the Commission by 15 February and agreed by the Council by the end of March.

On this basis, the Council set TACs and quotas for 2003 which broadly maintain 2002 levels for pelagic stocks and nephrops but significantly reduce TACs for key whitefish species such as cod, haddock, whiting and anglerfish. Reductions of the order of 50 per cent. in the TACs for these latter species in the North Sea and West of Scotland represent a considerable gain in fishing opportunities compared with the Commission's original proposals, whilst significantly enhancing the prospects for the recovery of these stocks in the long term. The closure to sandeel fishing of the area off the north east British coast, as applied for the last three years, is renewed for 2003. For Irish Sea stocks, it was agreed that the 2002 cod recovery arrangements, which include a springtime closure of part of the Irish Sea, should continue for 2003 with reduced TACS for such stocks as cod, haddock and whiting.

The Council agreed a re-allocation of existing Spanish structural funds to provide financial support to Spanish fishermen and mussel and oyster growers affected by the Prestige oil spill.

The Council agreed the conclusions of the Commission's action plan for the Mediterranean, which envisages the development of specific management measures for the area.

The Commissioner also presented a draft regulation on the management of fishing effort in western waters. He explained that he considered this to be necessary to eliminate any legal uncertainty concerning the applicability of some of the measures to the activities of Spanish and Portuguese vessels, following the expiry on 31 December 2002 of the transitional period foreseen in the 1985 Act of Accession. No decisions were reached on this proposal, which will be examined by the Council in coming months.

The Council reached unanimous political agreement on measures to update food hygiene rules applying to products of animal origin. It also reached political agreement by qualified majority on measures to update EU rules on the use of additives in animal feed.

The Council also agreed conclusions on animal welfare in third countries and on mutual assistance between member states regarding animal welfare. The Commission reported progress on developing further proposals on the protection of animals in transport.

The Council was unable to reach agreement on a proposal for new rules governing feedstuffs for organic livestock. Under the relevant Comitology procedures, the Commission will adopt the new measure under its

Date	Total animals	Where consignments were certified	Animals rejected at certification	Animals rejected at Dover docks	Destination
11 December 2002	2,197	England, Scotland and Wales	14	1	France
14 December 2002	2,854	England	0	0	Italy

The sheep for the consignments listed above were certified within 48 hours prior to export. The consignments that sailed on 11 December were fattening animals and were transported to holdings. The consignments that sailed on 14 December went to

own powers in January. The Commission, having reported on the progress of its work to develop an EU level Action Plan for Organic Food and Farming, was remitted to continue its efforts and report further by the end of 2003.

The Council approved o by qualified majority arrangements to protect the EU market from a surge in low priced cereals from Russia and the Ukraine. The Commission reported agreements reached with the US and Canada to establish reduced tariff quotas for certain cereals and the Council authorised the Commission to implement the deal from the beginning of 2003.

Over lunch, the Commission presented a paper which it proposes to submit to the WTO in the context of the Doha Round negotiations on agriculture. It proposed a number of specific reductions in tariff levels, export subsidies and domestic support. I welcomed the paper as an important first step in the process now leading up to the Cancun Ministerial meeting in September while warning that our negotiating partners were likely to press for a more ambitious outcome.

Under other business, Germany reported national action it had taken to reduce levels of acrylamide in food; and Italy raised concerns over the co-existence of GM and conventional agriculture.