§ Mr. HinchliffeTo ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food how many applications he has received in each of the last five years for licences to kill goosanders; how many of these were granted; and how many birds were killed. [29840]
§ Mrs. BrowningThe information requested is as follows:
Number of applications received Number of licences granted Actual number shot January-December 1991 0 0 0 January-December 1992 0 0 0 January 1993-April 1994 11 7 39 May 1994-April 1995 28 0 0 May 1995-March 19961 25 5 22 Statistics on licences are now collated for the period 1 May to 30 April., Prior to 1994, figures were collated on a calendar year basis.
1 Latest information available.
2 Provisional figures.
169W
§ Mr. HinchliffeTo ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food if he will make a statement on the assessment of damage to fisheries underlying each licence to kill goosanders issued in 1996; what other methods were evaluated to tackle the problem; and if he will make a statement. [29842]
§ Mrs. BrowningWhere licences were granted to shoot a limited number of goosanders as an aid to scaring, the Ministry was satisfied that serious damage was being caused to the fisheries. A wide range of alternative non-lethal scaring methods had been tried, for example, gas and rope bangers, rockets, horns, shooting blanks, human presence, but were found to be ineffective.