Sea Bass (Hansard, 17 September 2004)

§ Mr. Sanders
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs if she will place in the Library a copy of the European Commission's response to her submission to close the winter bass fishery in the English Channel and Western Approaches. [188130]

§ Mr. Bradshaw
A copy of the European Commission's response to the UK request for closure of the offshore pair trawl fishery for bass will be placed in the Library along with a copy of the UK request.

§ Mr. Sanders
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs if she will make it her Department's catering policy to source sea bass from hand line fisheries; and if she will make a statement. [188138]
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§ Mr. Bradshaw
Defra and its catering service providers are working together to increase the consumption of food that has been produced in ways that help sustain productivity and reduce adverse impacts on the environment.
Defra supports the sourcing of sea bass from responsibly managed fisheries. Handlining is a relatively low impact method of fishing and so can help fisheries to remain sustainable. Advice from the international Council for the Exploration of the Seas on sea bass has been that the level of exploitation of the stock appeared to be sustainable. New advice is due shortly which we will be considering carefully with a view to ensuring that the stock remains sustainably exploited. There are also currently no restrictions at a UK or Community level on the method of fishing that can be used to target bass.
In these circumstances I consider it would be inappropriate to encourage Defra's caterers to restrict the source of bass they purchase to hand line fisheries only.

§ Mr. Sanders
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what steps she proposes to take to persuade the European Commission of the need to close the sea bass fishery in order to reduce the by-catch of dolphins and other cetaceans. [188139]

§ Mr. Bradshaw
It is disappointing that the Commission did not accept the UK request for the closure of the offshore pair trawl fishery for bass to protect common dolphins. However, the Commission response to the UK request points to some ways in which progress might be made. We will be looking to build on this and the Commission's commitment to cooperate with the UK and other member states to find an effective solution to this bycatch problem.