Fisheries (Hansard, 10 February 1998)

§ Mr. Gill
To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what is the anticipated additional tonnage of(a) cod, (b) plaice, (c) saithe and (d) whiting that will be discarded from British-registered fishing vessels as a result of (i) recent changes in enforcement measures and (ii) the proposed restrictions on the landing of black fish. [28123]

§ Mr. Morley
[holding answer 6 February 1998]: From 1 January this year it has been a requirement of UK fishing vessel licences such that any fish subject to quota which are retained on board should not subsequently be discarded. This, and other enforcement measures, which are currently being considered and about which the fishing industry will be consulted, should not result in additional fish being discarded at sea.

§ Mr. Salmond
To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food if he will list the effort limitation controls applied to pelagic fisheries in EU member states. [28047]

§ Mr. Morley
Council Decision 97/413/EC which set objective and detailed rules for the fourth series of fisheries Multi-Annual Guidance Programmes (MAGP IV) required Member States to submit fishing effort limitation programmes to the European Commission by 30 June 1997 as a basis for the formal adoption of individual national programmes by 30 November 1997. The European Commission announced on 17 December 1997 that it had duly adopted these programmes, but the resulting Decisions have still to be published in theOfficial Journal. Details of the expected United Kingdom Decision were given in my reply to my hon. Friend the Member for Enfield, North (Ms Ryan) on 22 December 1997,Official Report, column 494.

§ Mr. Salmond
To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food if he will make a statement on the resources dedicated by each EU member state to enforce the effort limitation controls for pelagic fisheries. [28048]

§ Mr. Morley
A summary of the resources dedicated by each Member State to the monitoring, surveillance and control of fishing activities is contained in a European Commission report to the Fisheries Council under Council Regulation (EEC) No. 2847/93. The latest such report (Com(97)226 final) covers 1995 and a copy is in the Library of the House. A report on 1996 is expected shortly. It is the responsibility of the individual Member States concerned to determine how their resources should be deployed to ensure compliance with EU controls, including new effort limits for pelagic fisheries under MAGP IV.