§ Mr. DarvillTo ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food if he will make a statement on the carry-over of unused fishing effort allocations within the EU Multi Annual Guidance Programme (MAGP IV). [83902]
§ Mr. MorleyUnder the arrangements which I announced on 24 February last year, in answer to a question from my hon. Friend the Member for Ayr (Ms Osborne),Official Report, columns 187–88, fishing effort available to the UK pelagic and beam trawl segments in 1998 was allocated between the various Producer Organisations (POs) or groups of fishermen concerned. Monitoring of uptake during 1998 showed that both segments succeeded in remaining within their main targets. Following representations from the industry, we approached the Commission to see if unused effort could be carried over into subsequent years. They have now confirmed to us that this is possible. We will accordingly be holding urgent consultation meetings with those concerned to explore how to reflect this in effort allocations for this year.