Fisheries (Hansard, 21 January 1981)

§ Mr. Teddy Taylor
asked the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food if he will publish a table showing the total allowable catch for each species on which the proposals discussed at the Berlin Council of Ministers meeting in 1978 were based; and if he will also publish the total allowable catches for each species on which the proposals considered at the most recent Council of Ministers meeting on a common fisheries policy were based.

§ Mr. Buchanan-Smith
Tables giving the proposed total allowable catches for 1978 and those agreed for 1980 are already published and copies have been placed in the House of Commons library. The relevant references areTACs for 1978: Draft Regulation R/107/78, Explanatory memorandum of 24 January 1978. 191W TACs for 1980: Regulation 754/80 of 26 March 1980 (Official Journal of the European Community Vol. 23, No. L84 of 28 March 1980)
A number of proposals to amend this regulation were before the Council on 15–17 December 1980, namely:

Document 9336/80 (Explanatory memorandum of 29 September 1980)

Document 9336/80 COR I (Explanatory memorandum of 10 November 1980)

Document 10688/80 (Explanatory memorandum of 23 October 1980)

These amendments were, however, not adopted.

§ Mr. Teddy Taylor
asked the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food whether, in view of the imminent risk that EEC budget resources will be exhausted within the next two years, the financial aids for the fishing industry included in the recent proposals submitted to the Council of Ministers on a common fisheries policy will enjoy a greater, equal or a lesser claim than agricultural spending on the resources of the Community in the event of Community resources being inadequate to finance all its obligations.

§ Mr. Buchanan-Smith
I hope the Community will be able to agree and finance the fisheries measures that are necessary.

§ Mr. Teddy Taylor
asked the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food if the proposed Community inspectorate for fishing will have the right to seize items of fishing equipment as evidence if it suspects that rules are being breached; and if decisions on prosecutions will depend entirely on the authorities of the nation in whose territorial waters the alleged offences occur under the proposals discussed by the Council of Ministers relating to a proposed common fisheries policy.

§ Mr. Buchanan-Smith
The detailed terms of reference of the proposed Community inspectorate have not yet been agreed, but its purpose would be to monitor regularly the operations of each member State's enforcement services to ensure that the conservation measures were being effectively and uniformly enforced. Each member State would, however, retain full responsibility for enforcement within its own waters.

§ Mr. Teddy Taylor
asked the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what percentage of the total allowable catch of fish of all species was allocated to the United Kingdom in the proposals discussed at the meeting of the EEC Council of Ministers in Berlin in 1978; and what is the comparable percentage of the revised total allowable catch of all species which is allocated to the United Kingdom in the proposals submitted to the most recent Council of Ministers meeting on a common fisheries policy.

§ Mr. Buchanan-Smith
I regret that it is not possible to provide all the information requested, since total allowable catches are not set for all species. However, at the informal meeting of Fisheries Ministers held in Berlin in January 1978 it was proposed that the United Kingdom be allocated 33 per cent. of all demersal and pelagic species for which total allowable catches were set. No comparable proposals were submitted to the Council of Fisheries Ministers held on 15–17 December 1980.

§ Mr. Teddy Taylor
asked the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food if he is satisfied with the percentage of 192W total allowable catch of all species allocated to the United Kingdom in the proposals discussed at the recent Council of Ministers meeting.

§ Mr. Buchanan-Smith
No proposals to allocate to the United Kingdm a percentage of the total allowable catch of all species were discussed at the meeting of the Council of Ministers (Fisheries) on 15–17 December 1980.