§ Mr. DalyellTo ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, pursuant to the letter of 14 August, Ref 172597/JD to the hon. Member for Linlithgow, what monitoring has been done of the safeguards in the Protocol with Mauritania to protect fish resources off the West African Coast. [74196]
§ Mr. MorleyThe first meeting of the Joint Committee provided for under the EU/Mauritania Fisheries Protocol took place in June, at which the 573W implementation of the new 2001/2006 Protocol during its first year was reviewed. A joint scientific working party was established to examine the state of the stocks and report to the Joint Committee before 1 November 2002.
§ Mr. DalyellTo ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, pursuant to the letter to the hon. Member for Linlithgow of 14 August, Ref 172597/JD, what action she has taken during discussions on the reform of the Common Fisheries Policy to seek a requirement that every bilaterial fisheries agreement should be accompanied by a rigorous stock assessment and conditional on an environmental and social impact assessment. [74197]
§ Mr. MorleyThese are matters that we shall pursue when the Commission brings forward into the CFP reform discussions the relevant elements of its proposed Strategy for European distant-water fisheries, as foreseen in the Commission's "roadmap" communication on the reform of CFP issued on 28 May 2002.
§ Mr. HayesTo ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what her policy is towards the transfer of fish from a trawler at sea onto a storage vessel for transportation to port. [73860]
§ Mr. MorleyThe transhipment of fish stocks, subject to quota, between Community fishing vessels and receiving vessels has to be notified to the competent authorities of the Member States concerned in accordance with provisions of Article 11 of Council Regulation (EEC) No 2847/93, as amended. Separately the Receiving of Trans-Shipped Sea Fish (Licensing) Order 1982, as amended, prohibit the trans-shipment of pelagic sea fish onto non-fishing vessels within British fishery limits unless the receiving vessel is licensed. For the purposes of this Order pelagic sea fish are defined as mackerel, herring, sprats, pilchards and horse mackerel. Additionally UK fishing vessel licences prohibit the transhipment of any fish between under 10 and over 10 metre vessels.
§ Mr. HayesTo ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs if she will make a statement on her policy towards inclusion of the issue of fishing quota-capping in the next InterGovernmental Conference. [73823]
§ Mr. MorleySince 1 January 1999, and with the agreement of the European Commission, all vessels fishing against UK quotas have to maintain a genuine economic link with coastal communities in the UK. We have no plans to raise the issue at the next meeting of the Intergovernmental Conference.
§ Mr. HayesTo ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (1) if she will make a statement on the status of negotiations on the 12 mile derogation, with particular reference to the timescale; [73870]
(2) what negotiating points have been linked to the 12 mile derogation negotiating parties. [73871]
574W
§ Mr. MorleyA Council Working Group of officials from EU Member States has been meeting in Brussels to consider the Commission's proposals for reform of the Common Fisheries Policy. No one has attempted to link the 12 mile derogation to other issues.
§ Mr. HayesTo ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what recent estimate she has made of the size of the UK fishing workforce(a) within the fleet and (b) in dependent industries. [73868]
§ Mr. MorleyThe most recent information available on the numbers of fishermen in the United Kingdom are for the situation in 2000 as drawn from surveys carried out by the Sea Fisheries Inspectorate in England, Wales and Northern Ireland, and the Sea Fisheries Protection Agency in Scotland. The survey showed a total of 14,645 fishermen in the UK in 2001.
It is difficult to estimate the level of employment in dependent industries. This is due to it being difficult to define accurately which industries are involved, and in many cases these industries are not uniquely dependent on the fishing industry. The Department and the Sea Fish Industry Authority are currently jointly carrying out research into the relationship between jobs in fishing and jobs in the rest of the UK economy, with the results expected to be available within the next two to three months.
§ Mr. HayesTo ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how many UK fisheries vessels there are in each port of anchorage; and what proportion of them are foreign-owned. [73869]
§ Mr. MorleyAt 30 June 2002 there were some 7020 licensed UK fishing vessels. Comprehensive information about the beneficial ownership of UK fishing vessels is no longer maintained. However it is estimated that some 117 vessels are wholly or partly foreign owned. A significant proportion of the fleet is nomadic and it is not practical to break down the above numbers in terms of ports of anchorage.
§ Mr. HayesTo ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what the total tonnage was of the(a) white water and (b) blue water fishing fleet of the UK in (i) 1972, (ii) 1997 and (iii) 2002; how many vessels there were; and how many personnel were employed at sea. [73858]
§ Mr. MorleyThe information requested, where available, is given in the table below. The white water fleet has been taken as those UK fishing vessels that are 10 metres or less in overall length, with the blue water fleet taken as those UK fishing vessels greater than 10 metres overall length. Data on the numbers of fishermen is not available in terms of type of vessel, only on the basis of those employed full time or part time, which is given in the table.
Available vessel data for 1972 are not comparable with data for later years. Statistics for the active fleet in 1972 understate the overall size of the fleet; the registered fleet exceeded the active fleet by about 3,000 vessels in 1990 when the earlier statistical series was replaced. Similarly, the basis used to measure the tonnage of vessels in 1972 (Gross Registered Tonnage) 575W is not comparable with that used in later years (Gross Tonnage), and generally results in smaller estimates of the tonnage of vessels.