§ Mr. Sproatasked the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what plans he has for improving the effectiveness of the Fishery Protection Service in order that French herring vessels are not able to fish illegally for herring in British waters during the summer months as they were able to do in the summer of 1979 without one French vessel being arrested for such illegal herring fishing.
§ Mr. Buchanan-SmithRegular patrols are undertaken by our fishery protection forces within United Kingdom fishery limits. They found no evidence last summer of foreign vessels fishing for herring in those areas where such fishing is banned. Our fishery protection forces will continue their vigilance and their deployment during the coming summer will, as is usual, take account of fishing patterns. I do not believe that any significant variation in our protection arrangement is called for.