§ Mr. SwayneTo ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food (1) if he will list the occasions when sea anglers have been prohibited from landing fish consequent upon the need to close fisheries to vessels under 10m in length; [67150]
(2) when his Department reclassified landings by sea anglers from being part of the natural mortality of fish to being part of the quota; and if he will make a statement; [67151]
(3) which EU regulation requires him to take account of landings made by sea anglers for quota management purposes. [67149]
§ Mr. MorleyCouncil Regulation (EEC) No. 3760/92 of 20 December 1992, establishing a Community system for fisheries and aquaculture, requires Member States to ensure that non-commercial activities do not jeopardise the conservation and management of resources covered by the common fisheries policy. The annual EU Council regulations, laying down total allowable catches and quotas for the coming year, make no exemption for landings by vessels fishing for pleasure.
Fisheries closures orders have applied to sea angling since the introduction of the current quota management arrangements in the mid-1980s. The table lists the closures for 1998 which have applied to both commercial vessels of 10m and under in overall length and to vessels fishing for pleasure. Most of these closures would have had little, if any, impact on recreational sea angling because of the stocks involved or the timing of the closure.
Date North Sea sole 14 January-21 April Area VIIhjk plaice, West of Scotland sole, Area VIIhjk sole, Norway others 14 January-31 December Area VII b-k cod 12 May-6 September Area VIIe sole 7 September-31 December North Sea herring 15 December-31 December West Coast mackerel 18 December-31 December