§ Mr. TrotterTo ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food whether he has taken a decision on the National Rivers Authority's north-east coast net limitation order; and if he will make a statement.
§ Mr. GummerAfter careful consideration, I have decided that the new order restricting the number of licences which may be issued for netting for salmon off the Northumbrian and Yorkshire coasts should be confirmed with minor drafting amendments. It will take effect from 22 January 1993.
In reaching this decision, I took into account the representations made about the future of the north-east coast drift net fishery and the formal objections to the order that had been sent to me. Many of these argued that the fishery should be phased out over a much shorter time scale than that which would result from natural wastage. However, the order proposed by the NRA was consistent with the conclusions of the report on salmon net fisheries presented to Parliament in October 1991. In that report, my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Scotland and I noted that the review on which it was based had not produced any evidence that the drift net fishery posed an immediate threat to salmon stocks and thus any justification for depriving existing licence holders of their licences at a stroke. We concluded, however, that it would aid and improve the management of individual east coast salmon stocks if the fishery were to come to an end. And we recommended that, in order to avoid hardship, this should be done gradually by reducing the number of drift net licences as the licence holders left the fishery. The NRA's order provides for this.
The Government remain firmly committed to the phasing out of the drift net fishery. The effect of the new order will be monitored and the levels of drift net catches kept under close review.