HL Deb 14 June 2000 vol 613 cc204-6WA
Lord Inglewood

asked Her Majesty's Government:

Whether, within European Union rules, they are permitted to make payments to fishermen as compensation for damage to their businesses caused by the imposition of the ban on cod fishing in the North Irish Sea. [HL2640]

Baroness Hayman

Council Regulation 2792/1999 allows member states to use funds from the Financial Instrument for Fisheries Guidance (FIFG) to grant compensation to fishermen and owners of vessels for the temporary cessation of activities, including circumstances in which a plan is introduced for the recovery of resources threatened with exhaustion. Member states have to set out in their programmes of aid, which must be approved by the Commission, those measures allowed by the regulation which they will implement. The majority of any such funding would have to be funded by the UK taxpayer.

No provision currently exists and the Government have not included this kind of compensation in the programme which has been submitted to the Commission. Compensation could not be justified for conservation measures made necessary because of a serious decline of cod stocks to which the fishing industry may have contributed by overfishing. It is hoped that the emergency measures being taken to promote stock recovery in the Irish Sea will in the longer term help to protect the livelihoods of those fishermen affected by the current prohibitions. No other country affected by this temporary closure has made compensation available.

Fishermen who are unable to fish due to the closure of a fishery may be entitled to claim jobseeker's allowance.