§ Mr. KeyTo ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs whether she has responded to the Cabinet Office Strategy Unit recommendation that she should designate the sea bass stock for recreational use; and if she will make a statement. [165929]
§ Mr. Bradshaw"Net Benefits", the Prime Minister's Strategy Unit report giving recommendations for a sustainable and profitable future for UK fishing, was published on 25 March. These recommendations are presented as the basis for Her Majesty's Government, the Devolved Administrations, the fishing industry and all other stakeholders to determine future action. In response, the Fisheries Departments in the UK will engage intensively with stakeholders to develop by the end of 2004 an action plan for change and a timetable for its delivery. Defra has set up a dedicated team to1496W advance this work. The need to balance the needs of the recreational and commercial sectors is one of the many important issues that were identified in the report and will be covered.
§ Ms AthertonTo ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (1) how many UK fishing vessels will be required to use pingers in gillnet fisheries in areas IV and VII under the provisions of the new Regulation agreed at the Fisheries Council on 22 and 23 March, on the basis of current fishing effort; [168244]
(2) what proportion of UK fishing effort will be exempt from the pinger requirement on the basis of the exclusion of vessels smaller than 12 metres under the provisions of the new Regulation agreed at the Fisheries Council on 22 and 23 March. [168246]
§ Mr. BradshawThe new Council Regulation to address cetacean bycatch will require pinger usage on vessels of 12 metres and over in ICES divisions VIId, e,f,g,h and j when using bottom-set gillnets or entangling nets. In ICES Area IV and division IIIa, the pinger requirement will apply to vessels of 12 metres and over using bottom set gillnets or entangling nets where the combination of net lengths used does not exceed 400 metres or where the mesh size used is greater than or equal to 220mm. The data are not available to isolate definitively the number of vessels falling into the latter categories; it is only possible to identify the total number of vessels of 12 metres and over using bottom set gillnets and entangling nets in the areas concerned. On this basis, and using 2003 fishing data, the number of UK vessels required to use pingers would be 63.
Bearing in mind the same caveats, the proportion of UK fishing effort (i.e. days at sea) using bottom set-nets and entangling nets exempt from the pinger requirement would be approximately 80 per cent. It should be noted, however, that this calculation does not take account of the length of net deployed by those covered by the pinger requirements which is a significant factor affecting bycatch rates.