§ Mr. Jim Spicerasked the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food if he is satisfied that the total tonnage of mackerel at present being taken from the South-West Approaches falls within sensible tolerance level when related to conservation.
§ Mr. Bishop:After a thorough reassessment of the stock, the International Council for the Exploration of the Sea recommended total allowable catches—TAC—for the western mackerel stock of 450,000 tonnes for 1978 and 435,000 tonnes for 1979. I believe that in 1978 United Kingdom vessels caught a reasonable share of the recommended TAC; this will be our objective in operating our mackerel licensing arrangements this year. I hope that, as part of a settlement of the common fisheries policy negotiations, we shall soon have arrangements which provide for foreign fishing from this stock also to bear a reasonable relationship to the TAC.
§ Mr. Jim Spicerasked the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what are the latest figures for the tonnage of mackerel fished in the South-West Approaches.
§ Mr. Bishop:The latest available figures show a United Kingdom catch of mackerel off the south-west coast of England in 1978 of 206,000 tonnes. No reliable figures are available for foreign catches in the south-western approaches.