§ Mr. McNamaraasked the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food (1) whether he will publish the figures upon which the fishing vessel owners have based their claim for an operating subsidy;
(2) whether he will publish the figures upon which the British Trawler Federation bases its projection of a loss of £10,000 per vessel; how this compares for fish and freezer trawlers; and to what extent these figures represent and take into account vessel depreciation and capital write-off and vessel replacement.
§ Mr. BishopThe British Trawler's Federation has given us, for purposes of assessing the need for some form of assistance in the deep sea sector of the industry, its own estimate of how the costs and earnings of its members may be related during the 12 months ending 30th September 1975. But such estimates have to be based on prices for both products and inputs which are notoriously difficult to predict. Hence, it would not be proper for us to publish the details of this estimated cost structure and earnings of expectations of the British deep sea fleet for the next 12 months.
§ Mr. McNamaraasked the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Wood what estimate he has made of the profits of the distant water and middle water fishing fleets for the past three years; and what projection he has made for the coming year.
§ Mr. BishopInformation about the extent by which the gross proceeds of fishing voyages exceeded or fell short of the costs of such voyages was collected under 481W subsidy arrangements only until they terminated on 31st July 1973. The operating balance sheet thus constituted took no account of items such as interest on, or depreciation of, capital or allowances eligible for entry.
Because of the highly individual and diverse elements involved, calculation of collective profitability would be impracticable.