Fisheries Council (Hansard, 9 July 1991)

§ Mr. Curry

I attended the Council of Fisheries Ministers in Brussels on 8 July 1991 together with my right hon. Friend the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food and the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Scottish Office.

In the Council's key discussion on improved technical conservation measures I made clear the importance of urgent action; particularly in the North sea and west of Scotland to safeguard cod and haddock stocks. I drew attention to the measures the United Kingdom introduced unilaterally on 1 July to require the use of 90 mm square mesh panels and the substantial benefit it will have particularly in reducing discards of young haddock. I am pleased that it is now wholly accepted that EC measures are needed. For the North sea and west of Scotland it is clear that the only possible basis for an agreement on mesh sizes is a minimum diamond mesh of 100 mm with a 90 mm square mesh panel option. In addition, there is widespread support for an increase to 80 mm in the Irish sea, a change which our industry has been seeking for some time, and for a number of other improvements mainly designed to reduce wasteful catches of fish not yet ready for the market plus some simplifications of existing EC rules.

I called for urgent agreement on measures to control the use of extensive drift nets and supported the length limit of 2.5 km proposed by the Commission. While recognising that EC fleets do not engage in the sort of large scale indiscriminate drift netting which prompted the 1989 United Nations resolution, I stressed the importance of the EC showing its support for the international effort to curb such fishing.

I am pleased that there was a clear commitment from the Council and the Commission to make every effort to enable final decisions on drift nets and technical conservation measures to be taken at a special Council which is to be held in late October or early November.