§ Mr. PatersonTo ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what assessment she has made of the accuracy of assessments made by the(a) UK Government and (b) European Commission on the attributes of fish discarded by fishing vessels operating in UK waters.[152369]
§ Mr. BradshawThese data are obtained by discard officers employed by the UK fisheries research agencies They are collected in accordance with EC Regulation 1639/, which applies to all member states, and the precision levels of data relating to discards are set out in Chapter III E(1)c, H(1)e of that regulation. The European Commission makes use of the estimates made by member states, and may aggregate them when required.