§ Mr. MorleyTo ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food (1) what action is currently being considered at(a) national and (b) international level to exclude industrial fishing from those areas of the North sea which are of high environmental value;
(2) if he will seek to introduce a quota system for sandeels when he attends the European Council of Fisheries Ministers later in December.
§ Mr. JackIt is recognised that sandeel and other short-lived species serve as food for many of the human consumption fish and other top predators in the marine eco-system. Scientific knowledge of the short-lived species is not as extensive as for other fish species. For this, and other reasons, the United Kingdom pressed the Commission to establish a working party of marine ecologists and fisheries biologists to study the implications for the marine eco-system of fishing in general and industrial fishing in particular. This group met in May and has reported to the Commission. When its report is discussed in the Council, attention will need to be paid to the environmental aspects of industrial fishing.
It is for the European Commission to propose new quotas. It has not done so for sandeels for 1995; the current scientific advice is that sandeels in the North sea can sustain fisheries at their present level.