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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, pursuant to the Answer of 16 September 2016 to Question 45492, on Fisheries, if her Department will publish, for each instance in which an exception to reaching targets is granted, what the reasons for that exemption are.

The Government supports setting EU Total Allowable Catches (TACs) at Maximum Sustainable Yield (MSY) in 2017 wherever possible. In accordance with the provisions of Council Regulation 1380 / 2013 a delay in reaching MSY beyond 2017 would be allowed if a proposed TAC reduction would seriously jeopardise the social and economic sustainability of the fishing fleets involved. A decision may also be taken by the Council not to do so if it would merely increase the discarding of fish especially in a mixed fishery.

It would not be feasible to account fully for all the cases where the final outcome differs from the range of options recommended by the International Council for the Exploration of the Sea, including advice on fishing at MSY and this information is not published by the EU.