§ Mr. Powleyasked the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food whether the Fisheries Ministers have yet completed their review of the restrictive licensing arrangements in respect of the pelagic fisheries; and whether he will make a statement.
§ Mr. GummerFisheries Ministers have given thorough and detailed consideration to the restrictive licensing arrangements for the main mackerel and herring fisheries in the light of the current and prospective situation in the fisheries and of the views submitted by fishing industry306W organisations in response to a consultative paper issued by the Fisheries Departments in October 1985. We have reached the following conclusions.
The quota management difficulties experienced prior to the introduction in July 1980 of restrictive licensing arrangements for purse seiners and freezer trawlers have substantially eased reflecting both the overall reduction in the number of such vessels in the United Kingdom fleet and an increase in the available catching opportunities. Since 1980, the number of purse seine vessels in the pelagic fleet has declined from 59 to 50, whereas all 26 freezer trawlers, then licensed to fish for pelagic species, have left the fleet. For the last five years, not all the quotas available to the United Kingdom for mackerel and herring have been fully taken up; in 1986 it is estimated that, despite the operations of the freezer trawlers provisionally licensed in 1985, the United Kingdom's main pelagic quotas were 15 per cent. under utilised in total. These quotas have now been further increased for 1987. Consequently, while we believe that the special licensing restrictions on purse seiners and freezer trawlers in the pelagic fisheries should, given the catching power of such vessels, continue for the time being over and above the more general system of pressure stock licensing introduced in 1984, we have concluded that it would now be right to make certain modifications in their detailed application.
First, we have decided that in future pelagic licences for purse seiners and freezer trawlers should be interchangeable, thus allowing the balance of the fleet to adjust itself more effectively over the longer term to the situation in the fisheries and the needs of the market. However, given the strong evidence that a limited increase in catching capacity could lead to a fuller uptake of the quotas without undermining the viability of the existing fleet, and the very sharp decline since 1980 in the number of freezer trawlers compared with the change in the number of purse seiners, we have also decided to make available straight away a total of five new pelagic licences for such vessels. Two of these will be assigned to the two freezer trawlers which have been operating in the fisheries since 1985 on a provisional basis. Decisions on the three further freezer licences will be taken following consideration of all applications for such licences received by the Fisheries Departments before 1 March 1987.
Finally, the number of licences available for purse seiners and freezer trawlers for the pelagic fisheries will be reviewed annually to take account of any changes in the level of quotas available as well as their utilisation.