§ The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Mr. Ben Bradshaw)Effective monitoring, control and surveillance are critical to the operation of the Common Fisheries Policy and measures to conserve fish stocks. Towards the end of last year the European Commission drew attention to shortcomings in the United Kingdom's control arrangements and compliance with the rules and regulations of the Common Fisheries Policy. Concerns have also been expressed by the National Audit Office and the Public Accounts104WS Committee and more recently by the Cabinet Office Strategy Unit, which will report shortly on a sustainable future for the fishing industry.
With increasing emphasis on the sustainable use of naturally occurring resources, a culture of high compliance becomes ever more important. To encourage such culture and to respond to the concerns raised by the European Commission and others, the Fisheries Departments in the UK are taking a number of measures to strengthen fisheries monitoring, control and surveillance. These include:
consideration of moving away from the current system of criminal sanctions towards a potentially more responsive system of administrative penalties for breaches of fisheries regulations;improved accountability and traceability of fish landings through the designation of fish markets and the registration of all sellers and buyers of first sale fish;improvements in the weighing of fish before it is sold or before it leaves the port of landing for sale elsewhere;extending the existing arrangements for designated landing ports and for the prior notification of catch to vessels below 20 metres;the wider use of single area or single species licensing:the fitting of tamper-proof satellite position reporting terminals to all vessels over 15 metres;the better utilisation of resources with a greater focus on land-based inspection.Some measures are already being put into effect and others are or will be the subject of consultation with the industry. Together the measures will complement other action that is being taken at both national and Community level to safeguard fish stocks and the long-term interests of the fishing industry.
A more detailed note on the action that is being taken has been placed in the library of each House and copies are to be sent to fishermen and other stakeholders.