§ 93. Mr. Osborneasked the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs if he is aware of the danger that British fishermen will lose thousands of square miles of good quality fishing grounds in view of the proposal of Iceland to enforce the four-mile limit off her northern coast as from 3rd October, 1951; what action he proposes to take to safeguard the interests of British fishermen; and if he will make a statement on the correspondence received from the Grimsby Trawler Officers' Guild on this matter.
§ Mr. H. MorrisonYes. The Icelandic Government was notified on 6th July, 1950, that His Majesty's Government could not accept the new fishery regulations which were published in Iceland on the 22nd April, 1950. It was pointed out to the Icelandic Government that the position is likely to be affected by the decision in the case between His Majesty's Government and the Norwegian Government on fishing limits, now before the Hague Court. I now understand that this judgment is not likely to be given before the end of the year. It was also suggested to the Icelandic Government that it would be desirable to await the Court's judgment before starting discussions between 191W the two Governments about fishery limits off Iceland. I now propose again to approach the Icelandic Government and to ask them to postpone the application of their new fishery regulations to British vessels until a reasonable interval after the Court's judgment.
As regards the letter which the hon. Member has received from the Grimsby Trawler Officers' Guild, I do not think there is anything I can usefully add at present. I can assure the House that His Majesty's Government are fully aware of the serious loss to our fishing industry, if the Icelandic regulations in their present form were enforced against United Kingdom vessels.