§ Lord Stoddart of Swindonasked Her Majesty's Government:
For each species of fish, what are the old and new landing sizes agreed at the Fisheries Council meeting on 30 October, and which of these new landing sizes may include juvenile fish.
§ The Parliamentary Secretary, Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food (Lord Donoughue)The material requested on present landing sizes and on landing sizes to be applied from 1 January 2000 was placed in the Library of the House on 11 November 1997.
The new regulation increases the size for whiting (27 cms) and sets for the first time sizes for ling (62 cms) and blue ling (70 cms). The size for plaice (22 cms) is reduced, as is megrim (20 cms). Except for megrim, these new sizes are close to or greater than the point at which approximately 50 per cent. of the species concerned have reached maturity, which does in any case vary from area to area. The new size for megrim is a little smaller than strictly desirable but this recognises the fact that it is wasteful to require discarding of fish which are marketable and which in practice are caught as part of a mixture of species.