§ Mr. SteenTo ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food how many fish inspectors are employed in the United Kingdom; and what information he has on the numbers employed in Holland, France, Germany and Spain.
§ Mr. CurryThe current total number of land-based sea fisheries inspectors employed by United Kingdom Agricultural Departments is 159. A further 65 officers carry out fisheries protection duties through aerial and surface surveillance operations.
Comparison with other member states is not straightforward. In some cases responsibility is devolved to regional authorities; in other cases, fisheries inspection duties are carried out by staff with other functions, such as police and customs officers. The following information on numbers of fish inspectors employed in the Netherlands, France, Germany and Spain is contained in a Commission report on monitoring implementation of the common fisheries policy, published in March 1992. The information relates to land-based staff; no figures are available for those carrying out duties at sea.
Port-based HQ United Kingdom 132 27 Netherlands 180 2— France 2— 2— Germany 47 2— Spain 2— 132 1Includes recruitment of 15 inspectors which was taking place at the time the data was collected. 1Not available.