§ 61. Sir Michael Shawasked the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what action is being taken to enforce the common fisheries policy in the European Community.
§ Mr. JoplingIt is, of course, the responsibility of each member state to enforce Community fishery rules in the waters under its fisheries jurisdiction and in respect of its own fishermen. Each member state has a national fisheries inspectorate to carry out this task. In addition, the Community established general rules on inspection, monitoring, record keeping and a Commission Inspectorate of Inspectorates to ensure even-handed enforcement throughout the Community.
As my right hon. Friend the Minister of State reported on 6 November, the Council of Ministers has now decided to strengthen these control arrangements and for the first time agreement has been reached to penalise overfishing. We have given priority to obtaining these improvements and are delighted to have obtained them during our presidency.