§ Gregory BarkerTo ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what estimate she has made of the costs of administration for farmers in real terms in each of the last four years. [137250]
Western blue whiting North sea herring Member state Current quota Landings Closure effective Current quota Landings Closure effective Germany 18,955 11,712 — 39,087 38,314 — Denmark 2,218 586 — 63,405 28,590 — Spain 104 44 — — — — France 11,944 9,354 — 19,154 16,933 — Ireland 17,165 14,069 — — — — Netherlands 31,263 31,659 4 June 2003 45,935 43,689 — Sweden 0 25 — 4,070 503 — UK 25,032 21,273 2 April 2003 58,438 57,510 9 September 2003 EEC 107,281 94,722 — 224,458 185,536 —
§ Mr. Peter DuncanTo ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs whether she has briefed United Kingdom MEPs on the European Parliament Fisheries Committee on her strategy to decouple cod from other whitefish species. [138923]
§ Mr. BradshawI attach great importance to finding and negotiating approaches which will promote the recovery of cod stocks whilst allowing fishermen the chance to exploit stocks which are abundant in themselves but caught in the same areas. To be negotiable, such approaches do need to be demonstrably workable. I will certainly ensure that MEPs are briefed on the UK's aims in this respect.
§ Mr. Peter DuncanTo ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs if she will make a statement on the European Commission's announcement on 11 November that it has opened formal infringement procedures against the United Kingdom in respect of alleged failure to enforce fisheries rules. [138924]
1224W
§ Mr. BradshawThere is no estimate made of the total costs of administration for farmers. We estimate the cost in terms of farmers' time spent in completing statistical survey forms that was as follows (at the current prices in each of the years):
Year £000 1999 949 2000 11,432 2001 2561 2002 736 1Includes full June Agricultural and Horticultural Census as required by European Union 2Many surveys postponed or scaled down due to Foot and Mouth Disease