Rockall Fisheries Zone

HL Deb 03 October 2000 vol 616 cc209-10WA

Lord Campbell of Croy

asked Her Majesty's Government:

What action they propose to take to protect stocks of haddock from over-fishing after the reclassification of the area of Rockall as no longer within the fishery limits of the United Kingdom or the European Union. [HL3808]

Baroness Hayman

The Rockall fisheries zone (RFZ) was relinquished in 1997 when the UK acceded to the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS). Article 121(3) of UNCLOS prevents "rocks which cannot sustain human habitation or economic life of their own" being used to generate exclusive economic zones. Maintenance of the RFZ would not therefore have been compatible with UNCLOS and so would have been open to legal challenge.

Unregulated fishing in this area risks undermining EU management measures aimed at conserving stocks. That is why, at the Fisheries Council in June, we called upon the European Commission to press for the adoption of specific management measures by the North East Atlantic Fisheries Commission (NEAFC) to constrain fishing in the area. We were supported by a number of other member states, The European Commission has undertaken to pursue the necessary action in NEAFC.