World Trade

HC Deb 12 March 1969 vol 779 cc303-5W

Mr. Maurice Macmillan

asked the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food whether he will give an estimate

by drift net fishing, respectively, off the coast of Greenland during the year 1968.

Mr. Hoy

Full details are not yet available, but our preliminary information is that the inshore catch is about 550 metric tons and the drift net catch about 640 tons. If these figures are confirmed the numbers of fish would be approximately 173,000 and 200,000 fish respectively.

Sir H. Lucas-Tooth

asked the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food if he will give the number of salmon smolts and salmon kelts, tagged in the United Kingdom, which are known to have been recaptured within Greenland territorial waters and by drift netting on the high seas, respectively, in each of the years 1967 and 1968; and whether he will give particulars of the rivers in which any of these fish were tagged.

Mr. Hoy

38 smolts and kelts tagged in the United Kingdom were recaptured at Greenland in 1967 and 22 in 1968. Of the 1967 total, 29 were recaptured in the inshore fishery and 9 in the drift net fishery; corresponding figures for 1968 are to date 15 and 7. The following table is an analysis of the recaptures:

of the proportion of trade transacted outside the special arrangements for tin, sugar, wheat, coffee, butter and bacon, respectively.

Mr. Hoy

The proportion of trade transacted outside the price range of the International Tin Agreement is very small and of no significance. For sugar and wheat, about 8 per cent. and 6 per cent. respectively of world exports in recent years were from countries which are currently not members of the recently concluded international agreements. For coffee, only 1 per cent. of world exports come from non-members of the International Coffee Agreement. There are no international agreements covering trade in butter and bacon, but the United Kingdom controls imports of these products by import quotas and the Bacon Market Sharing Understanding and these imports account for two-thirds and over 90 per cent. respectively of world trade in these products.