§ Mr. Andrew GeorgeTo ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what plans he has to ensure an equality of fisheries monitoring and enforcement work across EU fishing nations. [64164]
§ Mr. MorleyEffective enforcement of measures to conserve fish stocks, applied consistently throughout the Community, is a high priority for this Government. It was one of the main issues we focused on during our Presidency and as a result of our initiative new measures 117W were adopted at the Fisheries Council in December 1998 which will improve fisheries control and enforcement in all Member States.
§ Mr. Andrew GeorgeTo ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food on how many occasions British fisheries officers have visited fisheries enforcement officers of other EU nations in the last three years; and what reciprocal visits have taken place. [64163]
§ Mr. MorleySince 1996 there have been some 20 occasions on which British Sea Fishery Officers employed by the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, the Scottish Fisheries Protection Agency and the Department of Agriculture for Northern Ireland have made official visits to other Member States. There have been 6 visits to the United Kingdom.
§ Mr. Andrew GeorgeTo ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what plans he has for future decommissioning schemes for the British fishing fleet. [64166]
§ Mr. MorleyI have already announced that, following our Comprehensive Spending Review, we will be making a total of £10.5 million available over the three years from 1999–2000 for a limited decommissioning scheme aimed primarily at those fleet segments where effort control is not an option under MAGP IV. I hope to be able to bring detailed proposals before the House early in the New Year.
§ Mr. Andrew GeorgeTo ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what assessment his Department has made of the impact of decommissioning schemes in the last three years on the British fleet in terms of its(a) average age, (b) numbers of vessels, (c) overall effort of fleet, (d) effort of fleet by sector and (e) number of vessels by port; and if he will make a statement. [64165]
§ Mr. MorleyIn the last 3 years, decommissioning schemes have removed 385 vessels, representing 11,802.28 tonnes, or approximately 5.5 per cent. of the fleet in capacity terms.
The effort of this on the average age of the fleet is difficult to determine because of other variables involved, for example vessels leaving the fleet through natural wastage, sales to third counties, licence aggregations resulting in replacement vessels entering the fleet etc.
There are similar issues in relation to the effect of decommissioning on fishing effort (which is the product of capacity, measured as vessel tonnage and engine power, and time spent at sea). In the absence of controls on time at sea under MAGP III, vessels remaining in the fleet were free to adjust their fishing patterns in response to circumstances and total fleet effort showed only a small decline in this period. Under MAGP IV arrangements, effective from the beginning of 1998, the UK has explicit fishing effort targets for most of the major fleet segments and is currently conforming with these. Full details of these targets, and of UK outturn by segment and in total against MAGP III capacity targets are set out in Commission Decision 98/124/EC.
Further information on the impact of the four decommissioning rounds in the period 1993–1996 is contained in the September 1997 Economic Evaluation of the Fishing Vessels (Decommissioning) Schemes commissioned by UK Fisheries Departments from 118W Nautilus Consultants, copies of which are available in the House Library and on the internet. This includes specific information on vessel numbers by port, age and type of vessels decommissioned etc.
§ Mr. Andrew GeorgeTo ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what assessment his Department has made of the merits of individual transferable quotas; and what plans he has to introduce such quotas to the United Kingdom fishing fleet. [64162]
§ Mr. MorleyExperience elsewhere has so far suggested that individual transferable quotas (ITQs) work best in single species fisheries or where stocks are under the jurisdiction of a single authority, though even in these cases they can lead to significant increases in enforcement costs, which are often passed on to the fishermen concerned in the form of licence charges. I am not currently aware of their successful use in the kinds of mixed fisheries typical of EU waters, or in situations where vessels of many countries fish the same stocks.
I do not therefore have any plans to introduce ITQs for the UK fleet, but remain willing to consider any viable option for improving fisheries management.
§ Mr. Andrew GeorgeTo ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food on what basis(a) he and (b) his Department's fisheries scientists calculated the effect of the precautionary principle for the purposes of negotiating the setting of the total allowable catches for 1999. [64157]
§ Mr. MorleyOver the last two years the International Council for the Exploration of the Sea (ICES) has been developing a new precautionary framework to its annual advice on total allowable catches (TACs) for fish stocks. UK fisheries scientists have contributed to this work. Reflecting progress made, this year's advice contains explicit suggested precautionary reference points in terms of spawning stock biomass and fishing mortality. Further work is needed to refine and develop the application of the precautionary approach but UK Ministers have taken account of ICES' suggested reference points in developing the United Kingdom's approach to the setting of 1999 TACs.