To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs whether the European Fisheries Fund can be used to decommission fishing vessels; and if he will make a statement. (188433)

Information on what can be funded from the European Fisheries Fund can be found in Council Regulation (EC) No. 1198/2006, which is available on the Europa website.

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what plans he has to decommission UK fishing vessels; and if he will make a statement. (188589)

I am currently considering the possibility of running a limited decommissioning scheme targeted at those under 10 m vessels that catch at, or close to, the monthly catch limits set by the Marine and Fisheries Agency.

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what his policy was on fishing vessel decommissioning in (a) 2006, (b) 2007 and (c) 2008; and if he will make a statement. (188590)

Departmental policy on fishing vessel decommissioning in the years 2006 to 2008 has been that general decommissioning schemes are not the most effective, nor the fairest way of reducing fleet capacity. Specifically, they do not encourage fishermen to make long-term business decisions, or provide value for money.

However, smaller targeted schemes can work when linked with other management measures. For example, the 2007 scheme for South-West beam trawlers was linked to the agreement of a long-term management plan for Western Channel sole.