Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps he is taking with the European Commission to tackle illegal seabass fishing activity from commercial fixed netters.

Under recovery measures for the bass stock, there is a general prohibition in EU legislation on fishing for bass, with a number of specific derogations allowing for limited bass landings from directed and by-catch fisheries. The current derogation for fixed gillnetters provides for a 1.2 tonne annual limit per vessel to allow for unavoidable by-catches of bass. This limit means landings of UK gillnetting bass catches are over 70% lower than pre-recovery measures levels.

I am aware of concerns being raised about targeting of bass under that unavoidable by-catch provision and at this year’s Fisheries Council on 17-18 December, we will be considering new management measures relating to seabass, including new proposals from the European Commission in relation to commercial fixed gillnets.