To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what is his estimate of the numbers of species of fish in the United Kingdom's coastal waters, and if he will list those species which are largely dependent upon estuaries for breeding and migration purposes.

I have been asked to reply.There are about 125 species of fin fish in United Kingdom coastal waters of which about half are of interest to fishermen. Leaving aside the non-commercial fish species, the species which take advantage of estuarine conditions at some stage in their lifecycle are bass, flounder, herring, sprat, eel, smelt, salmonids, mullet species and sandeel species.