§ Dr. TongeTo ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what discussions she has had with her European colleagues concerning conservation of the dolphin population around UK shores; and if she will make a statement. [103841]
§ Mr. MorleyI have raised the issue of small cetacean bycatch and its impact on dolphin populations several times with Commissioner Fischler, both in person and in writing. Most recently, I wrote to him on 4 February, reinforcing the intervention made by the UK at the January meeting of the Agriculture and Fisheries Council and pressing in particular for wider observer coverage off the South West coast where a number of other member states' vessels pursue the pelagic fishery. I have also written to the French Minister and spoken individually to ministerial colleagues from Spain, Germany and Denmark.
The outcome has been, progressively, the inclusion of action on cetacean bycatch firstly in the Commission's roadmap on CFP reform and secondly in the action plan on environmental matters under the CFP, and publication of the Commission's discussion paper on the reduction of cetacean bycatch in December 2002. I shall continue to fund our scientific work and to press for action, with a view to securing concrete proposals from the Commission and their adoption by the Council.