§ Mr. HoodTo ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what the outcome was of the Fisheries Council held in Brussels on 17 and 18 December; what the Government's position was on each issue discussed, including its voting record; and if she will make a statement. [25103]
§ Mr. MorleyI represented the United Kingdom at a meeting of the EU Council of Fisheries Ministers in Brussels on 17–18 December, together with Ross Finnie, Minister for Environment and Rural Development in the Scottish Executive and Mrs. Brid Rodgers, the Northern Ireland Minister for Agriculture and Rural Development.
The Council agreed by qualified majority, with France voting against, on Total Allowable Catches (TACs) and quotas to apply in 2002 in EU waters and for EU vessels fishing in waters where catch limitations apply, together with a six-month extension of the controls on fleet capacity and grants. Details of the agreed UK quotas are provided in the table.
774WFollowing on from the advice of fisheries scientists at the International Council for the Exploration of the Sea (ICES) highlighting the poor state of a number of fish stocks, the Commission proposed large cuts in a wide range of TACs. I fully supported the need for large cuts where the science justified this, but argued in parallel to this that in many respects the Commission's proposals went further than science would justify.
Scientific assessment underpinned our whole approach towards stocks. We were careful both to respect scientific advice and have a sound scientific case where we disagreed with some of the Commissions's proposals.
The Commission was in particular too quick to propose large automatic cuts in relation to stocks associated and caught with depleted stocks and to cut TACs for some stocks because they appear to have been under-utilised by fishermen up to now. The former approach had led the Commission to propose, for example, further large cuts in the nephrops fisheries west of Scotland and in the Irish sea and North sea on the presumption that this would relieve pressure on depleted cod stocks: expert analysis that we have carried out on this proposition because of the importance of the nephrops fishery to UK fishermen showed conclusively that, to the contrary, the Commission's proposed cuts would have seriously penalised nephrops fishermen in order to bring benefits to cod stocks which would be minimal at best.
More generally, if implemented the proposals would have denied fishermen such benefits as the scientific advice showed could now be derived as a result of conservation measures already taken, and would have curtailed a wide range of fishing activity much more severely than could be rationally justified.
I am pleased to say that, after lengthy negotiations, we achieved an outcome which closely follows the scientific advice. This does not shirk severe measures where these are justified, but it does meet my criticisms of what the Commission proposed. Improvements of particular interest to UK fishermen include the abandonment of the unjustified further cuts proposed in the nephrops TACs, a 48 per cent. increase in the TAC for cod in the Irish sea (made possible by conservation measures previously taken there), and a valuable mitigation of the punitive cuts proposed by the commission in the TACs for monkfish.
The Council agreed a short, six-month, extension of the controls on fleet capacity and grants, raising the capacity penalty applied when vessel construction and modernisation grants are paid on vessels in fleet segments exceeding their Community limits. The Council and the Commission undertook to aim, in the reform of the Common Fisheries Policy, at an active fleet policy to achieve better balance between fishing effort and fisheries resources.
The Council briefly noted, but did not discuss in any details, two areas of work that will command a lot of its attention in 2002—the review of the Common Fisheries Policy and the long-term plans to be put in place for the recovery of depleted stocks. Clearly the second of these 775W items will be of particular importance in the context of ensuring the long-term sustainability of the fisheries concerned and of the industries that pursue them.
776W
Comparative table of UK quota for 2001 and 2002 UK quota Stock 2001 2002 Sandeel IIa North Sea 20,000 17,794 Herring I, II 16,460 16,460 Herring IVa, b 40,570 38,169 Herring IVc, VIId 1,693 4,094 Herring Vb, VIaN, VIb 21,570 21,571 Herring VIa (Clyde) 1,000 1,000 Herring VIIa 5,100 3,550 Herring VIIe, f 500 500 Herring VIIg-k 30 10 Herring IIa North Sea Industrial by-catch 660 660 Cod IIa, IV 18,930 19,397 Cod Vb, VI, XII, XIV 2,222 2,960 Cod VIIa 895 1,378 Cod VIIb-k, VIII, IX, X 870 712 Megrim IIA North Sea 2,600 2,599 Megrim Vb, VI, XII, XIV 1,370 1,367 Megrim VII 2,150 1,874 Dab and Flounder Ha North Sea 2,330 2,331 Anglers IIa North Sea 11,495 8,545 Anglers Vb, VI, XII, XIV 1,975 1,513 Anglers VII 3,870 3,295 Haddock IIa, IV 41,780 59,805 Haddock Vb, VI, XII, XIV 10,820 10,992 Haddock VII, VIII, IX, X 1,200 830 Haddock VIIa (additional to haddock VII) 1,293 622 Whiting IIa, IV 13,335 18,853 Whiting Vb, VI, XII, XIV 2,580 2,157 Whiting VIIa 685 443 Whiting VIIb-k 2,250 3,402 Hake Ha, IV 160 170 Hake Vb, VI, VII, XII, XIV 2,500 2,662 Blue whiting IIa, IV 1,070 592 Blue whiting Vb, VI, VII, XII, XIV 45,350 25,032 Blue whiting VIII abde 7,241 3,555 Lemon sole IIa North sea 6,580 5,937 Nephrops IIa, IV 13,380 14,368 Nephrops Vb, VI 11,070 11,072 Nephrops VII 6,200 5,856 Northern prawn IIa, IV 1,778 1,074 Plaice IIa, IV 21,780 20,748 Plaice Vb, VI, XII, XIV 1,170 1,050 Plaice VIIa 835 1,223 Plaice VIId, e 1,750 1,946 Plaice VIIf, g 180 119 Plaice VIIh, j, k 150 146 Pollack Vb, VI, XII, XIV 400 403 Pollack VII 2,960 2,964 Saithe IIa, III, IV 6,980 10,838 Saithe Vb, VI, XII, XIV 3,255 3,211 Saithe VII, VIII, IX, X 805 1,340 Turbot and brill IIa North Sea 1,110 973 Skates and rays IIa North Sea 3,128 2,509 Mackerel IIa(EC), III, IV 1,580 1,611 Mackerel IIa(non-EC), Vb, VI, VII, VIIIabde, XII, XIV 197,069 201,647 Sole II, IV 815 686 Sole Vb, VI, XII, XIV 30 25 Sole VIIa 240 244 Sole VIId 885 1,000 Sole VIIe 355 309 Sole VIIf, g 285 301 Sole VIIh, j, k 110 138 Sprat II, IV 8,350 8,348 Sprat VIId, e 6,300 6,300 Spurdog IIa, IV 7,177 5,745 Horse mackerel Ha North Sea 4,960 4,960 Horse mackerel Vb, VI, VII, VIIIabde, XII, XIV 22,850 14,026