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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, when her Department plans to announce emergency conservation measures to protect sea bass stocks.

At December Fisheries Council, the UK secured a commitment to work further on emergency measures to protect bass during the 2015 spawning season. My Department wrote to the European Commission on 19 December 2014 asking it to consider emergency measures for the sea bass fishery, under Article 12 of the Common Fisheries Policy Regulation. Following further work with the UK and other interested Member States the European Commission announced proposed measures on 19 January. These will be brought in by the European Commission. Once the final form of the measures is determined and they have been adopted, my Department will confirm the details.