Indian Ocean Territories (Fishing)

HC Deb 20 July 1998 vol 316 cc397-8W

Mr. Dalyell

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what proposals he has for the protection of coral reefs around fishing grounds in the British Indian Ocean Territories. [49590]

Mr. Tony Lloyd

Administering the British Indian Ocean Territory's (BIOT) 200 mile Fisheries Conservation and Management Zone is the responsibility of the BIOT Government. It is alert to the need to provide protection for the coral reef fishery. May I refer my hon. Friend to the oral statement made to the House by my hon. Friend the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for International Development on 1 July 1997,Official Report, columns 324–30.