Mr. Michael Jabez FosterTo ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what has been the total catch at the port of Hastings in each quarter in the past four years.[53605]
§ Mr. Morley[holding answer 30 July 1998]: The information on the total catch landed at Hastings is set out in the table.
made to (a) Wash fishermen and (b) those directly involved in processing brown shrimp, for loss of earnings as a result of his decision not to postpone the dredging and beach replenishment programme at Mablethorpe in 1997. [53747]
731W
§ Mr. Morley[holding answer 30 July 1998]: This is entirely a matter for the Environment Agency, but I understand an offer of £21,783 has been made to fishermen by the Agency in respect of disturbance in the area where beach replenishment took place in 1997.
§ Dr. George TurnerTo ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what evidence he has assessed on the stock level of brown shrimp in the North Sea in(a) 1997 and (b) the period 1993 to 1996; and if he will place such evidence in the Library. [53743]
§ Mr. Morley[holding answer 30 July 1998]: An international study group is collecting data on brown shrimp but has not yet made an assessment of the stock in the North Sea as a whole.
So far as the Wash and adjacent areas are concerned, an index of abundance has been prepared using landings of brown shrimp per unit effort. The data are as follows.
Landings, effort and index of abundance (landings per unit effort) for brown shrimps from The Wash and adjacent areas 1986 to 1997 Year Landings in tonnes Effort in 1000s hours fished LPUE in kg/hour 1986 497 15 32.7 1987 1,404 26 54.4 1988 561 19 29.8 1989 653 25 25.8 1990 399 27 14.9 1991 344 19 18.1 1992 401 11 35.0 1993 923 23 40.0 1994 967 33 29.6
1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 tonnes liveweight £ tonnes liveweight £ tonnes liveweight £s tonnes liveweight £ tonnes liveweight £ August 88.943 92,288 67.938 80,124 62.217 88,068 25.658 42,862 30.892 26,511 September 179.967 196,964 146.055 128,260 132.955 199,733 53.290 61,973 56.985 47,169 October 183.707 234,011 94.297 79,189 115.949 177,163 107.770 135,359 62.298 54,525 November 172.332 221,715 109.425 146,059 76.909 119,324 56.762 70,700 42.407 36,127 December 79.923 104,688 109.138 157,323 29.817 52,748 35.174 44,432 18.138 15,502 Total August-December 704.872 849,666 526,853 590,955 417.847 637,036 278.654 355,326 210.720 179,834 Monthly average August-December 140.974 169,933 105.371 118,191 83.569 127,407 55.731 71,065 42.144 35,967 Annual total 871.432 1,136,913 925.141 1,210,682 786.007 1,206,595 347.876 531,672 347.144 324,185 Monthly average 72.619 94,743 77.095 100,890 65.501 100,550 28.990 44,306 28.929 27.015 I have made no estimate of the catch which would have been possible in the absence of dredging in 1997. Variations in catch from year to year reflect a number of factors including stock levels, fishing effort, type of gear employed and market price.
I have made no estimate of the effect on the incomes of fishermen or processors of variations in catch.