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28 Feb 2008 : Column 1862W—continued
During the period 1 April 2007 to 31 January 2008, the dates when no inshore patrol vessels (Hunt class) were in operation on fisheries protection duties are shown in the following table.
| Date(s) | Reason | |
| (1) No operational requirements for vessels on these days | ||
Fisheries: Protection
Bill Wiggin: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how much funding to protect marine biodiversity and fish stocks from (a) pollution, (b) parasites, (c) invasive species and (d) other threats in each of the (i) last five years and (ii) next five years; and if he will make a statement. [188417]
Jonathan Shaw: The Department does not hold the information in the form the hon. Member requests and, due to Departmental reorganisation, comparisons with previous years are not readily available. For 2007-08, the Department’s budget for marine and fisheries work is £40 million, this is likely to increase to around £47 million in 2008-09. Some of the funding provided to statutory agencies (such as the Joint Nature Conservation Committee) also contributes to the protection of marine biodiversity.
Fisheries: Quotas
Bill Wiggin: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what research his Department has commissioned on the composition of fishing catches in relation to allocated quota; and if he will make a statement. [188418]
Jonathan Shaw: DEFRA commissions a range of research work on the composition of fish caught by UK fishermen. Among other uses, this work provides information on factors such as the selectivity of fishing gears and the level of discards of fish. These are used as inputs into the ongoing scientific assessment of the state of fish stocks used to determining the level of fish quotas each year that are allocated to member states.
Bill Wiggin: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what the catch composition of the catch from vessels involved in the Irish Sea Discard Pilot has been; what the difference between the catch composition and the quota allocation has been; and if he will make a statement. [188419]
Jonathan Shaw: Data from the initial period of the pilot project are being compiled by scientists in the UK and Ireland and are not yet available.
Bill Wiggin: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (1) what cross-year quota swaps he has made affecting the amount of quota available to the 10m and under fleet in 2008; and if he will make a statement; [188426]
(2) what in-year and cross-quota swaps he has made in each International Council for the Exploration of the Sea Area affecting the quota available for the 10m and under fleet in 2008; what economic assessment he has made of such swaps; and if he will make a statement. [188429]
Jonathan Shaw:
The Marine and Fisheries Agency has explored, and will continue to explore, all options to acquire additional quota for the inshore fleet through domestic and international swaps, and via quota contributed to the 10 m and under quota
allocations by producer organisations under economic link arrangements. A key determinant on whether or not a swap is agreed is if there is economic benefit for the UK in making the swap. Based on this, two international cross-year swaps have been completed with Germany and the Netherlands to acquire an additional 150 tonnes of valuable North sea sole quota in 2008 for inshore fishermen operating in the southern North sea. Additionally, similar cross year swaps have been agreed to gain 38 tonnes of North sea Whiting and 26 tonnes of Irish sea Plaice for the inshore fleet. Other international swaps have also taken place. These will not have been carried out for the specific benefit of the inshore fleet. However, the inshore fleet will have benefited in many instances from a share of the extra fish gained for the UK as a whole.
Bill Wiggin: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs pursuant to the answer of 5 December 2007, Official Report, column 1272W, on fisheries: quota, whether he has now discussed quota management with the Inshore Fisheries Working Group; whether he plans further to discuss quota management with the Inshore Fisheries Working Group; and if he will make a statement. [188427]
Jonathan Shaw: DEFRA officials meet the Inshore Fisheries Working Group twice a year. The Group discusses a range of issues relevant to inshore fisheries. Should it be appropriate for me to meet the Group, I would be happy to do so.
Bill Wiggin: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs whether he has made any cross-year quota swaps between the quota allocations for 2008 and for 2009; and if he will make a statement. [188428]
Jonathan Shaw: The possibility of 2008 to 2009 cross-year swaps will not be considered until much later in the year in the approach to the December Fisheries Council.
Bill Wiggin: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs whether he plans to carry out any quota swaps that would alter the availability of quota for the 10m and under fleet in Area Vlle; and if he will make a statement. [188430]
Jonathan Shaw: The Marine and Fisheries Agency will explore all possibilities to gain extra quota, including swaps, to enhance the quota allocation for the 10 m and under fleet in Area Vlle, as elsewhere, for stocks where additional quota is needed.
Bill Wiggin: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what the details of each quota swap made in 2007 were; and if he will make a statement. [188442]
Jonathan Shaw: It is not possible, at a proportionate cost, to provide the details of each quota swap in 2007 as over 100 international swaps and some 1,370 domestic swaps were undertaken last year.
Bill Wiggin: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs whether he consulted recreational sea angling interests before quota swaps were made; and if he will make a statement. [188443]
Jonathan Shaw: Recreational sea angling interests have not been consulted about quota allocations or swaps as they are not included in the quota allocation system.
Bill Wiggin: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs whether the Scottish Executive notified him of its proposed changes to quota management; and if he will make a statement. [188612]
Jonathan Shaw: I was notified of the Scottish Executive's intentions regarding quota management at a meeting of Fisheries Ministers in Peterhead on 5 October 2007.
Bill Wiggin: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs pursuant to the answer of 6 February 2008, Official Report, column 1289W, on fisheries: quotas, on what policies the Government engaged with the devolved administrations in the last 12 months. [188670]
Jonathan Shaw: The Government have engaged with the devolved Administrations in the last 12 months on all areas of policy relevant to fisheries management in the UK.
Bill Wiggin: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs pursuant to the answer of 6 February 2008, Official Report, column 1288W, on fisheries: quotas, whether the draft quota management change programme proposals suggested the decommissioning of 10m and under vessels. [188671]
Jonathan Shaw: Decommissioning a proportion of the 10 m and under fleet was one of the proposals under consideration in the context of the quota management change programme.
Fishing Catches
Bill Wiggin: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (1) whether he plans to introduce further discard pilot schemes; and if he will make a statement; [188434]
(2) what estimate he has made of the amount of fish discarded in UK waters in each month since January 2006 by (a) UK vessels and (b) non-UK vessels; and if he will make a statement; [188544]
(3) if he will make a statement on the progress being made producing the EU Discard Atlas. [188546]
Jonathan Shaw:
It is not possible to provide figures for discards solely in UK waters. The discard estimates used by ICES in stock assessments are carried out in relation to particular sea areas (e.g. the North sea) rather than national waters. The figures for North sea
ICES sub-area IV are set out in the following table. Figures from Scotland will not be available until April 2008.
| Estimated tonnes discarded | ||||||
| Country | Area | Species | Q1 | Q2 | Q3 | Q4 |
The UK is currently considering further work on discards in the context of the cod recovery plan and to deliver the required objectives on North sea whiting arising from last year's EU/Norway negotiations The proposal for a Discard Atlas intends to review the current knowledge about discards in EU fisheries and undertake a feasibility study on a fisheries information system for EU Fisheries. The study would require extensive work and co-operation between all European marine fisheries research institutes in order to achieve these aims. However, the finances on offer to perform the study are relatively limited, and at present it is not clear whether there will be any consortiums bidding for this work. The deadline for bid submissions was 25 February 2008.
Genetically Modified Organisms: Pesticides
Mr. Drew: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what research he has commissioned into the effect of GM crop technology on levels of pesticides use. [189431]
Mr. Woolas: We have not commissioned any research on this topic.
Honours
Mr. Pope: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how many members of the Senior Civil Service in his Department have received an honour. [187128]
Jonathan Shaw: We have three members of the DEFRA SCS in post who have received an honour during their time in the Department.
We do not routinely keep data on:
the number of awards held by individuals,
awards that are not related to official duties,
awards already held by staff before joining the Department.
Horse Racing: Animal Welfare
Mr. Hancock: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what recent communications his Department has had with the British Horseracing Authority on the provisions of the Animal Welfare Act 2006, with particular regard to section 4; and if he will make a statement. [187326]
Jonathan Shaw: There have been no recent communications between DEFRA and the British Horseracing Authority in relation to section 4 of the Animal Welfare Act 2006.
Inland Waterways
Mr. Clifton-Brown: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what assessment he has made of the effect of the withdrawal of British Waterways from the Cotswold Canal Partnership on the restoration programme of the Thames and Severn canal. [188006]
Jonathan Shaw: The proposed restoration of the Cotswold canals has been endorsed in the Cotswold district council’s local plan and the line of the canals is protected.
British Waterways is just one of the 19 members of the partnership. The Cotswold Canals Partnership is committed to the restoration project and will continue with it, given the regeneration benefits in the long term. The timetable for the restoration of these canals will depend upon the availability of funding.
We have always made clear that, while we welcomed the project, this was a matter for the British Waterways Board.
British Waterways remains optimistic that the restoration will be achieved in the future.
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