§ Mr. LetwinTo ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs if she has received representations about the possibility of waste- based fishing quotas. [83898]
§ Mr. Morley[holding answer 28 November 2002]: No but I am pleased to note that the Commission has recently produced an action plan to address the practice of discarding of unwanted fish. One of the many points for discussion is the possibility of reducing discards due to exhausted quotas by establishing by-catch quotas or setting multi-species TACs. We have not yet taken a view on this but look forward to detailed consideration and discussion of this and other novel ideas in the action plan.