HC Deb 27 January 1995 vol 253 cc451-2W
Mr. Austin Mitchell

To ask thee Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food in what circumstances other Community countries could apply conservation measures similar to those granted to Portugal and Spain under article V-I (a) of the Fisheries Council agreement.

Mr. Jack

The agreement reached by the Fisheries Council in December 1994 provides that the Council will incorporate into Council regulation 3094/86, dealing with technical conservation measures, a ban on fishing for tuna species with drift nets or purse seine nets in certain Spanish and Portuguese waters; some of these measures previously operated on an annual basis.

This agreement is in accordance with the provision of article 4 of the basic common fisheries policy, Council regulation No. 3760/92. The Commission can propose new technical conservation measures for Council decision at its own initiative or in the light of member states' requests.

Mr. Austin Mitchell

To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what information he has about the amount of aid paid to fishing in each of the other EEC fishing nations in the form of(a) building grants, (b) fuel or operating support, (c) market support and (d) unemployment support when not fishing; and for each form of support, what representations he has made to the Commission or to the Government concerned to get the subsidy ended.

Mr. Jack

Under European Union law, member states are permitted to pay certain types of aid to the fishing industry, provided these are approved by the Commission in its sectoral plans. These may include vessel modernisation and construction grants, aid for fishing port facilities and for the processing and marketing of fishery products. It is the Commission's responsibility to ensure that no unauthorised payments are made. Details of the amounts paid by individual member states are not notified directly to us, but we will always follow up any allegations of illegal support.

Mr. Allason

To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food how may Spanish-owned ships in Britain's fishing fleet applied for United Kingdom decommissioning grants in the last year for which figures are available.

Mr. Jack

Under the Fishing Vessels (Decommissioning) Scheme 1993 we received seven applications for grant in respect of vessels upon which Spanish nationals held at least a 25 per cent. interest; only one was successful.

Following the introduction of the Merchant Shipping (Registration of Shipping) Regulations 1993—SI 1993 No. 3138—the registrar general of shipping and seamen no longer collects details of shareholdings in United Kingdom companies owning British-registered fishing vessels.