§ Mr. Terlezkiasked the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what estimates he makes of the amount of illegal and unauthorised fishing in rivers and lakes that currently takes place in the United Kingdom; and what assessment he makes of the consequences regarding the fish population of the United Kingdom.
§ Mr. MacGregorThere are no such estimates. It is impossible to quantify the effect of illegal fishing.
§ Mr. Terlezkiasked the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food if he has any plans to introduce legislation to control further illegal fishing in rivers and lakes; and if he will make a statement.
§ Mr. MacGregorI have no proposals, at present, to introduce such legislation. However, I would draw my hon. Friend's attention to my reply of 29 February, at column196–7, to my hon. Friend the Member for Dumfries (Sir H. Monro) in which I stated that we shall explore whether the ideas set out in the salmon sales group's report, to combat the illegal fishing for salmon, can be developed into a workable scheme within Great Britain as a whole.