asked the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food if, in view of the fact that the mackerel licensing arrangements for the 1980spring fishery, introducing a 20 per cent. cut in existing weekly vessel quotas, will make this fishing uneconomic for many wet fishing trawlers, he will consider amending these arrangements to allow each vessel to catch its total quota as quickly as possible instead of confining it to a weekly quota for the seven weeks' catching season.

As indicated in my reply to my hon. Friend the Member for Haltemprice (Mr. Wall) on 19 December—[Vol. 976, c. 207.]—the Government have concluded that vessel quotas for the South-West fishery in the early part of 1980 should continue to be allocated on a weekly basis. The operation of weekly quotas will be reviewed in the context of the proposed restrictive licensing scheme and the possibility of annual or seasonal quotas will be reconsidered at that stage.