§ Mr. Nicholas BennettTo ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food if he will give details for June 1989 and June 1990 of all(a) non-cod and (b) cod landings from sea area VIIA broken down by vessel length band for (i) east coast Scottish, (ii) west coast Scottish, (iii) English, (iv) Welsh and (v) Northern Irish, indicating within each category the number of vessels and tonnages landed.
§ Mr. GummerI regret that it would be too expensive to give a detailed response to the questions posed by my hon. Friend. I will, however, make a general statement about the alleged misreporting of cod in the Irish sea and off the west coast of Ireland.
The non-sector's quota of cod in the Irish sea for 1990 is 1,858 tonnes. Approximately half this quota was apparently taken by Scottish vessels and landed into Scotland during June and early July. In addition, landings into Scotland of cod reported as taken from the west of Ireland (areas VIIb and VIIc) have shown a marked increase in the second half of June. The Irish sea cod fishery has had to be closed to the non-sector as its quota for the year has already been exhausted.
The industry has stated its view that some Scottish vessels have been misreporting fish caught in the North sea or off the west coast of Scotland as coming from the Irish sea or off the west coast of Ireland, and has asked that catches should be reallocated from the latter to the former areas.
Fisheries Departments accept that the circumstantial evidence points to misreporting having taken place. The Irish sea cod fishery is traditionally a spring and winter fishery and high catches in summer are unusual. The pattern of landings this year is very different from experience. Moreover, the rate of uptake by the non-sector has not been paralleled by the sector. However, departments cannot act to penalise a particular group of vessels or to compensate Irish sea fishermen affected on the basis of rumour or circumstantial evidence; they can act only following successful prosecution of offenders. Departments are examining all fishing documents and, if they can secure hard evidence of misreporting, they will prosecute.
In the meantime, Departments are looking urgently at ways of limiting misreporting in future, and hope to be able to set up a system later this year. I know that the industry has in the past rejected tougher enforcement measures in view of their cost and inconvenience, but if it is serious about limiting misreporting, I hope that it will now accept the need for firm action.
If a system to limit misreporting can be established quickly, Departments will try to obtain more quota from another member state with the aim of reopening the Irish sea cod fishery to the non-sector later this year. However, such a swap would depend on the successful identification of another United Kingdom stock to offer in exchange.