§ Mr. William RossTo ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food if he will list for each member country of the EC the number of fishing vessels, the total quota of fish by species of each country, the fishing capacity of each country as a percentage of their quota, the number of fisheries inspected and the number of fishing protection vessels and aircraft employed.
§ Mr. JackAs regards the number of fishing vessels, I refer the hon. Member to the multi-annual guidance programme of each member state as set out in Commission decisions 92/588/EEC to 92/598/EEC, as amended and, as regards quotas, to regulation 3676/93. These documents are in the Library of the House. It would be misleading to compare total capacity and total quota, but the multi-annual guidance programmes do give a broad indication of the reductions needed to bring national fleets into better balance with the stocks they fish.
The most recent information available about fisheries inspected and the number of fishing protection vessels and aircraft employed by each member state is in the Commission report on monitoring implementation of the common fisheries policy, published in 1992. This document, which is also in the Library of the House, contains information about inspections carried out during 1990 and about member states' enforcement resources. As from 1995, the Commission will be publishing an annual report on the enforcement activities of member states under the provisions of the new fisheries control regulation, Council regulation 2847/93, which came into operation on 1 January this year.