§ Mr. Beithasked the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food whether he will summarise the evidence on which he bases his assessment in the reply given to the hon. Member for Berwick-upon-Tweed on 26 March that an increase to 90mm minimum size in the whitefish mesh would lead in the long term to a significant increase in landings of whiting; and what he anticipates would be the effect on landings in the short term.
§ Mr. Buchanan-SmithI am sending the hon. Member an extract from a 1979 report of the advisory committee on fishery management of the International Council for the Exploration of the Sea, which indicated that an increase in minimum mesh size to 90mm, combined with restrictions on the Norway pout fishery, would result in significant long-term gains in landings of whiting for human consumption. It is expected that the principal short-term effect of increasing the mesh size to 90mm on the whiting fishery would be a reduction in the quantity of undersized fish caught. Catches of marketable fish should not be greatly affected.