§ Mr. MitchellTo ask the Prime Minister, pursuant to his oral answer to the hon. Member for Totnes (Mr. Steen) of 10 February 1999,Official Report, column 321, on commercial fishing of mackerel, what assessment he has made of allegations of fishing by EU member states' vessels in the conservation box. [72153]
§ The Prime MinisterThe majority of the Mackerel Box lies outside UK territorial waters. Vessels from other member States are free to fish there provided that they have quota and do not target mackerel using mobile fishing gear or purse seine nets.
One of the tasks of the Royal Navy's Fisheries Protection Squadron and our aerial surveillance team is to patrol this area. In 1998, enforcement action included reporting two incidents to the Danish Authorities who later suspended the licences of the skippers concerned for one month. Four other cases were successfully prosecuted in the UK Courts.
We have not detected any infringements of access rights in the UK territorial waters included in the box and neither have we been informed of any infringements of those access rights.