§ Mr. Gordon PrenticeTo ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food if he will list by species of fish, the dates when the stocks in fishing grounds around the United Kingdom will be fished out at current rates of depletion. [47454]
§ Mr. MorleyApproximately half of the fish stocks in the North East Atlantic assessed by the International Council for the Exploration of the Sea (ICES) are considered to be above safe biological limits. This means that they are above the level necessary to avoid an increasing risk that they will fail to reproduce themselves. The remaining stocks are at or below this level so cautious fisheries management is necessary to ensure that these stocks are not overfished and remain at or return to a safe level. With such management, no stocks around the UK are predicted to be fished out in the foreseeable future.