§ Lord Mason of Barnsleyasked Her Majesty's Government:
What are the declared catches of salmon by drift netting off the north of England for each of the last five years; and what is the estimate over the last full year of drift netting operations of undeclared losses of salmon due to undeclared returns, destruction by nets and those eaten by seals.
§ The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food (Baroness Trumpington)Declared catches of salmon and grilse are published for each year. The information is as follows:—
Northumbria and Yorkshire Water Authorities (number of fish) 1988 (provisional figure) drift nets 47,465 T-nets 3,384 1987 Northumbrian drift 35,626 1986 and T-nets 61,957 1985 Yorkshire drift 55,943 1984 nets 58,495 (A breakdown of catch as between T-nets and drift nets is not available for years up to 1988).
Undeclared catches and other losses are still being assessed for the statutory review of the north east of England and eastern Scotland salmon fishery, as required by Section 39 of the Salmon Act 1986. It is not possible, at this stage, to quantify them. Published estimates suggest that seals may take a quantity of fish equal to about 5 per cent. of fish caught.