HC Deb 17 July 1997 vol 298 cc272-3W
Mr. Dalyell

To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what action he is taking to implement the recommendations on fish-breeding areas in the report chaired by Lord Perry. [7158]

Mr. Morley

The House of Lords Select Committee on Science and Technology recommended that consideration should be given to the establishment under the Common Fisheries Policy of a system requiring fishermen to report to the authorities if there is a high proportion of juvenile fish in their catch. Following receipt of such a report the area should be surveyed by the appropriate national authority and, providing that the report is verified, the area should be closed until the juvenile fish have dispersed.

Following the Committee's report, the Centre for Environment, Fisheries and Aquaculture Science (CEFAS) undertook a review of the feasibility of operating temporary closures of areas with large numbers of juvenile fish. They concluded that, where the nursery areas are large, permanent and contain high concentrations of juveniles that are discarded, then it is to the benefit of the fishery to close such areas on a permanent or temporary basis. This applies primarily to flatfish nursery grounds, for which there is already a closed area known as the Plaice Box, and the Government is seeking to improve the effectiveness of the Plaice Box in current negotiations on a European Commission proposal for new technical conservation measures.

For the large stocks of roundfish, the juveniles are much more dispersed and their distribution is more dynamic. For these stocks CEFAS concluded that temporary closure of areas in the way proposed by the Committee does not appear to be a practical proposition, and monitoring and enforcement would be costly. However, there are a number of fixed areas which are closed to different types of fishing to protect young roundfish and pelagic fish. The Norway Pout Box, off eastern Scotland, protects young haddock and other gadoids from small mesh industrial fisheries. The Mackerel Box off south Cornwall protects juvenile mackerel. Many herring spawning grounds are protected as the vulnerable spawn are densely laid on the gravel seabed. The UK has also introduced restrictions on fishing in the estuarine nursery areas of bass.

The scope for further measures to protect juvenile fish is being explored in the negotiations on new EC technical conservation rules.