§ Mr. BeithTo ask the Secretary of State for Scotland what assessment he has made of the likelihood of haddock quotas being exhausted before the end of 1990; and whether he has any plans to ensure that excess landings in any producer organisation's area do not lead to closures in other areas where quotas are not in danger of being exceeded.
§ Mr. LangThe objective of the fisheries departments is to ensure maximum uptake in the United Kingdom's haddock fisheries without exceeding national quotas. Fisheries departments, therefore, closely monitor uptake as well as operating established penalty and compensation arrangements for overfishing. Departments are implementing in full special arrangements introduced in March in the North sea haddock fishery with the aim of spreading uptake more evenly throughout the year, thus minimising the risk of premature closure. At that time departments wrote to producer organisations setting a limit of the amount of fish they could take by 30 June. A further limit was set on the amount that could be taken by 30 September. To enforce this measure fisheries departments will, as a minimum, suspend the North sea haddock licence of any producer organisation which looks as though it will breach its 30 June limit (or 60 per cent. of the more recently circulated interim allocations, whichever is the greater) and are considering whether more stringent action is required if the 30 September limit is breached. Such suspensions will apply to individual producer organisations and can be effective for differing periods of time. To date none of the Scottish, and only one of the English producer organisations is likely to have problems remaining within its 30 June limit.
I believe that the measures that departments have already taken considerably reduce the risk of United Kingdom catches getting out of hand, but it would be wrong of me to guarantee under any circumstances a full 12–month fishery since this will depend on self-discipline being exercised by fishermen and their organisations.