§ Major Wallasked the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs to make a statement about the negotiations on fishing limits around the Faroe Islands.
§ Mr. H. MacmillanI am glad to be able to inform the House that negotiations have been completed for a revision of the Anglo-Danish Fishery Convention of 1901. Notes were exchanged in London on 22nd April; these have been published today as a White Paper. The Agreements contained in the exchange of Notes will come into force on 1st July.
The Danish Government proposed an extension of fishery limits around the Faroe Islands. During the negotiations this proposal has been modified so that the new limits can now be regarded as a balance between the fishing interests of the two parties. The Danish Government have given an assurance that the new limits will be applied to the fishing vessels of all other countries. The limits will be firm for at least 12 years; this period of stability will be valuable to our fishing industry.
My right hon. Friends, the Secretary of State for Scotland and the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, have kept the organisations representing our trawling industry informed of these negotiations.
We welcome these Agreements, which show that problems of fishing grounds can be settled by negotiation without 31W economic dislocation and bitterness. I am confident that we have arrived at a reasonable compromise between the interests of Faroese inshore fishermen and those of British deep-sea trawlers.