To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what proposals he has for imposing the days-at-sea regulations on vessels under 10 m.

As the recent consultation paper on effort control and decommissioning makes clear, the Government do not propose initially to introduce controls on days-at-sea for vessels of overall length 10 metres and under when restrictive licensing is extended to them in 1993. However, the extension of licensing will facilitate the collection of statistics on the activities of this sector, and in the light of them the Government will be able to consider whether restrictions should be introduced.