§ Mr. Mylesasked the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food when he will begin consultations with the fishing industry on restructuring the fleet.
§ Mr. Peter WalkerA consultation paper is being circulated to representative industry organisations today. Copies have been placed in the Libraries of both Houses.
The Government are seeking the industry's views before the end of May on the structure of fleet we need to be able to take full advantage of our fishing opportunities now that we have achieved a settlement of the European community's common fisheries policy. We also ask for views on how the European Community funds which are to be made available can best be used to promote the development and restructuring of our fleet.
A separate section of the paper invites industry organisations to consider how we should manage catch quotas.
Our intention is to promote a detailed discussion of these issues within the industry and between the industry and Government so as to provide all concerned with the best possible basis for developing policies which will have a vital bearing on the industry's future development.
We look forward to working with the industry on these important questions in the same constructive way as we did throughout the negotiations on the common fisheries policy.