asked the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what has been the average level of British fishing as compared to the new quota allocations under the common fisheries agreement for each of the last four years, together with his estimate of the increase in the size of the British fishing fleet which would be necessary to allow the United Kingdom to catch its full quotas.
The figures requested are as follows for those stocks for which the proposed United Kingdom allocation was altered in the compromise proposals put forward by the Commission during the meeting of the Council of Fisheries Ministers on 26 October.
| Stock | Average Catch (1978–81) | Proposed Quota 19820 |
| (thousand tonnes) | (thousand tonnes) | |
| North Sea cod | 102 | 114·7 |
| North Sea haddock | 77·5 | 117·1 |
| West of Scotland haddock | 14·3 | 30·7 |
| West of Scotland herring | *33·9 | 40 |
| Southern North Sea herring | *0·2 | 21 |
* Catches taken in 1981 only.
Note: The proposed 1982 quotas for North Sea cod and North Sea haddock are dependent on negotiations with Norway.
The capacity of the United Kingdom fishing fleet should be adequate to catch the quotas proposed for 1982.