§ Mr. DafisTo ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food if he will list the figures showing the landings in tonnes of(a) cod, (b) sole and (c) haddock in each year from 1970 onwards.
§ Mr. CurryThe information requested relating to all landings into the United Kingdom is given in the table.
Landings into the United Kingdom by British and foreign fishing vessels (tonnes landed weight). The figures include landings from fishing grounds in the North Atlantic which have, over the period, been closed to British fishermen Year Cod Sole Haddock 1970 366,674 1,624 179,527 1971 326,034 1,372 183,642 1972 323,545 1,372 157,988 1973 290,424 1,473 154,991 1974 290,576 1,168 132,690 1975 272,344 1.312 116,064 1976 260,809 1,588 130,639 1977 175,380 1,490 124,229 1978 168,970 1,804 87,606 1979 160,271 2,133 82,542 1980 148,024 1,937 94,664 1981 147,988 1,865 106,864 1982 141,610 2,271 134,371 1983 135,959 2,383 126,989 1984 113,816 2,596 109,741 1985 112,447 2,980 135,113 1986 94,422 3,426 133,628 1987 108,866 3,560 105,378 1988 94,396 3,372 100,885 1989 84,941 3,401 75,184 19901 74,526 3,612 52,115 1 The figures for 1990 have not yet been published but have been finalised. Source: Sea Fisheries Statistical Tables.
§ Mr. DafisTo ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what efforts are currently being undertaken by his Department to eliminate the practice of discarding unwanted fish by fishermen.
§ Mr. CurryThe increase in mesh sizes and the use of square mesh panels which formed important parts of the 619W EC and United Kingdom conservation measures introduced on 1 June 1992 are designed to lead to a reduction in discards by allowing more juvenile fish to escape from nets. Following discussion in the Community the EC Commission are preparing detailed proposals to tackle aspects of the problem further. In addition most of the gear research work funded by United Kingdom fisheries departments is concerned with gear selectivity.