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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, if she will take steps to prevent the North Devon fishing industry being subject to a ban on the landing of ray.

On 12 October, the Marine Management Organisation (MMO) closed the Area VII skates and rays fishery to all English vessels. This decision was taken after the latest landings information indicated that, after allowance is made for landings already made but not yet entered onto the MMO database, the UK quota for this stock has been exhausted. Attempts to acquire additional quota through international quota swaps in order to keep the fishery open have not yet been successful.

It is important that the UK does not exceed the quotas allocated to it, which can result in penalties being applied. This would make subsequent management of the fisheries more difficult. However, I have asked the MMO to monitor the situation closely to see if there is any possibility of reopening the fishery on a limited basis if the level of unrecorded landings is lower than anticipated. I have also asked MMO to redouble its efforts to obtain additional quota through international swaps. Even if sufficient quota cannot be found to enable the fishery to reopen this year, it will reopen on 1 January 2015.