§ Mr. Ron Lewisasked the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what further developments there have been on EEC fishing agreements with third countries.
§ Mr. John SilkinAs I stated in a reply given to my hon. Friend the Member for South Shields (Mr. Blenkinsop) on 20 February, at the meeting earlier this week of the EEC Council of Fisheries Ministers 291W I was obliged to maintain the United Kingdom reserves on the conclusion of fisheries agreements with several third countries. I had been encouraged to think that others might be prepared to show sufficient consideration for United Kingdom interests to warrant lifting our reserve on the Canadian agreement, which has distinctive features. In the event, such consideration was not forthcoming, though in the course of the debate the Danish Minister was induced to drop his insistence on a higher salmon quota for the fishermen of Greenland, which would have been against United Kingdom interests since a substantial proportion of salmon caught in that area spawns in our waters.
I have since pursued the matter with the authorities of the Federal Republic of Germany who are particularly anxious to see the Canadian agreement concluded quickly. The Federal Government have undertaken to transfer to the United Kingdom 1,000 tonnes of the cod allocation for 1979 which it would otherwise enjoy in Norwegian waters north of latitude 62 degrees N in exchange for 500 tonnes of redfish and 500 tonnes of saithe from the United Kingdom allocations. This swap agreement represents a significant benefit to our fishermen and in consequence I have now lifted the United Kingdom reserve on the Canadian agreement.