§ Mr. GillTo ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, pursuant to his answer to the hon. Member for Buckingham (Mr. Bercow) of 8 July 1999,Official Report, column 626, on the Common Fisheries Policy, if his statement on the majority of fish discarded being undersize is based upon the (a) numbers and (b) weight of discard:, and what estimate he has made of undersize discards as a percentage of total discards. [91768]
§ Mr. MorleySampling of discards in the North Sea in 1997 by CEFAS indicated that, by number, the majority of discarded cod, haddock and whiting were undersized fish. The actual estimates of the proportions of discarded fish, by number, that were undersized were cod 82 per cent., haddock 57 per cent. and whiting 67 per cent.
By weight the percentages were cod 73 per cent., haddock 46 per cent. and whiting 53 per cent.