Sea Fishing (Hansard, 20 July 1993)

§ Mr. Austin Mitchell
To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Food (1) what requirement remains for the United Kingdom to make good its failure 151W to achieve its objectives under the second multi-annual guidance programme; what carry-over there is as a result into the third MAGP; and what sanctions arise as a result;
(2) what sanctions the Commission imposed on the United Kingdom for its failure to achieve its MAGP effort reduction targets; how much aid was lost to United Kingdom industry as a result; and what protests were made by the United Kingdom;
(3) how she proposes fulfilling the requirement to the MAGP to reduce capacity by 20 per cent. to take account of technical growth accounting for an increase of 2 per cent. a year;
(4) if she will specify the factors which led the Government to decide to introduce a decommissioning scheme; and when she decided that such a scheme would make a contribution to conservation;
(5) what is the Government's target for reducing United Kingdom fishing efforts in the life of the third MAGP;
(6) what were the reasons for the United Kingdom fishing effort growth in the second multi-annual guidance programme;
(7) how she intends to ensure that the decommissioning scheme meets its targets in those sectors where reductions are required but does not affect those sectors where no reduction is required;
(8) what representations she received in the first and second MAGPs about the failure of the United Kingdom to achieve its target reductions;
(9) if she will give her estimate of the reduction in effort which will be achieved through her decommissioning scheme; and how far will this go to fulfil the MAGP targets.

§ Mr. Jack
[holding answer 12 July 1993]: At the end of 1991, the capacity of the United Kingdom fishing fleet exceeded our MAGP target under the 1987–91 programme by 9 per cent. It is not possible to be precise on the reasons for this, but the economics of the fishing industry did result

Reported catches of Salmon and Grilse in England and Wales by method: 1983–91

1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991

Drift Nets^{1 5} 79,794 62,798 60,222 66,931 40,658 54,687 42,310 52,695 25,948

Seine Nets² 11,740 10,860 10,919 14,212 16,555 13,364 12,973 7,900 4,045

Lifting Nets³ 6,611 6,449 1,484 4,751 3,152 2,298 4,727 4,259 2,893

Fixed Nets^{4 5} 3,986 3,096 3,275 4,553 3,363 6,968 8,902 6,967 4,789

Rod and Line 14,811 11,021 19,601 20,347 19,711 32,846 14,728 14,849 13,974

¹ Includes trammel and coracle nets.

² Includes wade nets.

³ Lave, haaf and dip nets.

⁴ Fixed nets and traps.

⁵ Catch statistics for the Northumbrian net fisheries for the years 1983–87 did not distinguish between method of capture. All salmon and grilse caught in these years have therefore been included under the drift net heading, even though some will have been caught in fixed nets.

Source:—MAFF: Salmon and Migratory Trout Fisheries Statistics 1983–88.
—NRA: Fisheries Statistics 1989–91.

§ Mr. William Ross
To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food if she will list for each drift salmon fishery in England and Wales the number of salmon and grilse taken in each of the last 10 years and the average weight of each category of such fish.

§ Mr. Jack
The numbers and average weights of salmon and grilse caught in each of the salmon drift net fisheries in England and Wales, in each of the years 1983 to 1991, are given in the table. Separate figures for salmon and for grilse are not available. Catch data for 1992 are still being collated by the National Rivers Authority. Data for 1982 are not readily available in the form requested.
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in an enlarged fleet. This backlog of capacity reduction was added to the new MAGP target for 1993 to 1996. Because of the backlog, the EC Commission ceased to award aid for the construction of new United Kingdom fishing vessels. We received a number of representations about these matters.
We will be aiming to meet our MAGP target for 1993 to 1996, and the backlog from earlier programmes, by application of the measures announced by Ministers in February 1992. These measures comprise decommission-ing, days at sea controls and revised licensing arrangements. They allow differentiation in terms of segments of the fleet. In proposing MAGP targets for 1993 to 1996, which for the United Kingdom fleet as a whole require a reduction of about 10 per cent.—19 per cent. allowing for the backlog—the Commission took account of technical efficiency improvements in fishing methods of about 2 per cent. per year.
The United Kingdom decommissioning scheme recently introduced, combined with effort control measures, should provide a positive contribution to conservation by reducing fishing effort and thus the number of fish being caught and killed.

Reported catches of Salmon and Grilse in England and Wales by method: 1983–91
	1983	1984	1985	1986	1987	1988	1989	1990	1991
Drift Nets^{1 5}	79,794	62,798	60,222	66,931	40,658	54,687	42,310	52,695	25,948
Seine Nets²	11,740	10,860	10,919	14,212	16,555	13,364	12,973	7,900	4,045
Lifting Nets³	6,611	6,449	1,484	4,751	3,152	2,298	4,727	4,259	2,893
Fixed Nets^{4 5}	3,986	3,096	3,275	4,553	3,363	6,968	8,902	6,967	4,789
Rod and Line	14,811	11,021	19,601	20,347	19,711	32,846	14,728	14,849	13,974
¹ Includes trammel and coracle nets.
² Includes wade nets.
³ Lave, haaf and dip nets.
⁴ Fixed nets and traps.
⁵ Catch statistics for the Northumbrian net fisheries for the years 1983–87 did not distinguish between method of capture. All salmon and grilse caught in these years have therefore been included under the drift net heading, even though some will have been caught in fixed nets.