§ Sir Michael MarshallTo ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, pursuant to his oral statement of 18 April, if he will give further details of the satellite surveillance system which will be used to monitor fishing in international waters off Newfoundland under the terms of the negotiated settlement between the European Community and the Government of Canada. [20505]
§ Mr. Jack[holding answer 21 April 1995]: Under the control and enforcement provisions of the negotiated settlement between the European Union and Canada, it is envisaged that the North-west Atlantic Fisheries Organisation contracting parties will install satellite-tracking devices on 35 per cent. of their vessels fishing in the NAFO regulatory area where the combined fishing effort of their vessels is 300 days or more. The installation is intended to take place, as rapidly as is realistically possible, when the vessels make a port call or depart for the NRA. The system installed must be able to transmit satellite signals automatically to a land-based system, to allow the continuous tracking by the contracting party of its fishing vessel. The contracting party must then transmit, on a real-time basis, entry and exit messages from satellite-equipped vessels to the NAFO secretariat, which in turn will transmit the information to contracting parties with an inspection vessel in the NAFO convention area.
Contracting parties will also be required to co-operate with those contracting parties which have a NAFO inspection vessel or aircraft in the convention area, in order to exchange information on the location of fishing vessels equipped with satellite devices and, if requested, to provide information relating to the identification of a vessel.