§ Mr. David PorterTo ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food if he has any plans to abandon the historic basis of total allowable catches for cod; and if he will introduce an allocation equal to boats of the same size regardless of port of registration.
§ Mr. Gummer[holding answer 12 May 1988]: I have no plans to abandon the historic basis of total allowable catches for cod, which is an important part of the Community's conservation policy. Fisheries departments already manage cod quotas in the non-sector according to vessel length band and without regard to port of registration.
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§ Mr. David PorterTo ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food if he will give a table showing the current year cod quotas and the recorded catches in the year in which historic catches are based for each of the following ports: Lowestoft, Bridlington, Scarborough, Grimsby, Filey, Great Yarmouth, Harwich, Southwold, Aldeburgh, Felixstowe and West Mersea.
§ Mr. Gummer[holding answer 12 May 1988]: Cod quotas are not calculated for individual ports, but landings at the ports listed over the reference period 1982–86 are as follows:
Tonnes (landed weight) Lowestoft 12,897 Bridlington 15,372 Scarborough and Filey 15,700 Grimsby 66,094 Great Yarmouth and Winterdon 211 Harwich, Walton and Clacton 667 Southwold 340 Alburgh 444 Felixstowe 844 West Mersea 193 For confidentiality purposes, landing figures are not made available for those small ports where three or fewer owners are based, and instead are amalgamated with neighbouring ports. Consequently, the figures for Scarborough, Filey, Great Yarmouth and Harwich and only readily available as shown in the table. Similarly, since 1985, the figures for West Mersea including landings at Tollesbury, Maldon and Bradwell.
§ Mr. David PorterTo ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what steps he takes to ensure that the cod quota allocated to (i) the port of Lowestoft and (ii) the port of Grimsby is(a) sufficient for their needs and (b) fair in relation to other English ports.
§ Mr. Gummer[holding answer 12 May 1988]: Fisheries Departments do not allocate quotas on an individual port basis.
§ Mr. David PorterTo ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food if he will make a statement on how the port of(a) Grimsby and (b) Lowestoft cod quota is decided, allocated and monitored; and what steps he has taken to ensure that it is a fair quota in relation to other ports.
§ Mr. Gummer[holding answer 12 May 1988]: Fisheries Departments do not allocate quotas on an individual port basis. However, sectoral quotas to producer organisations, some of whose economic area may include the ports of Grimsby and Lowestoft, are calculated in accordance with the methodology agreed with the industry as a whole.
Under the sectoral quota systems, it is for the producer organisations to monitor uptake of quota and to take whatever management action is necessary to keep within quota.
§ Mr. David PorterTo ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what plans he has for allocating cod quotas in 1989 and subsequent years.
§ Mr. Gummer[holding answer 12 May 1988]: The arrangements for allocating sectoral quotas are drawn up each year, usually in the autumn, in full consultation with 293W the industry. A date has yet to be fixed in respect of the consultation exercise for 1989. The industry will also be consulted about non-sectoral quotas.
§ Mr. David PorterTo ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what plans he has for amending the current cod quota for Lowestoft before the autumn.
§ Mr. Gummer[holding answer 12 May 1988]: Quotas are not allocated to individual ports. North sea cod is managed either through sectoral quotas, allocated to producer organisations or directly by the fisheries Departments in respect of non-sectoral fishermen.
The quota available for Lowestoft depends, in the case of the sectoral quota allocated to the Yorkshire and Anglia Fish Producer Organisation, on the number of vessels in membership, their track records, the degree of over-fishing in 1987 and the decision of the producer organisation on the proportion of its quota to he allocated to Lowestoft. There is no non-sectoral allocation to Lowestoft.
The only possibilities whereby the cod allocation to Lowestoft could be increased would be either through a quota swap with another member state or an increase in the North sea cod total allowable catch (TAC). Neither is likely to happen before the autumn and any TAC increase would need to be based on scientific information.
§ Mr. David PorterTo ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what plans he has to deal with the surplus to quota cod thrown overboard at sea; how much cod is killed in this way in a year in the United Kingdom; and if he will make a statement.
§ Mr. Gummer[holding answer 12 May 1988]: Discards at sea arise both because of quota management measures and provisions concerned with technical conservation. It is not possible to quantify the level of cod discarded in the United Kingdom.
§ Mr. David PorterTo ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food why the allocation of North sea cod to the Yorkshire and Anglia Fish Producers Organisation was reduced from 9.4 per cent. of the United Kingdom total in 1985 to 6.8 per cent. of the United Kingdom total in the current year; and what are the parallel allocations to all other producer organisations in the same period.
§ Mr. Gummer[holding answer 12 May 1988]: Fluctuations in the level of sectoral quotas from year to year are due to a number of factors including changes in the vessels in membership of a producer organisation compared with previous years; changes in the vessels with incomplete track records compared with previous years and which therefore require "notional" allocations; the level of penalty for over-fishing; the level of compensation due to over-fishing by others; and, in 1988, the allowance which the industry, including YAFPO, agreed should be set aside for vessels of 10 m and under.
The methodology for calculating sectoral quotas is agreed each year in full consultation with the industry.
294WI am not able to list the allocations to all producer organisations because some of them wish their figures to be regarded as commercially confidential.
§ Mr. David PorterTo ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food whether he plans to meet representatives from the Yorkshire and Anglia Fish Producers' Organisation to discuss the current quota year in relation to cod.
§ Mr. Gummer[holding answer 12 May 1988]: I have no plans to do so at present.