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Fishing Catches: North Sea

Volume 486: debated on Tuesday 20 January 2009

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what the weight of discards of fish caught in the North Sea was in the latest period for which figures are available, broken down by (a) nationality of fishing vessel and (b) fish type. (249170)

We do not have access to estimates of discards by nation for nations other than the UK. However estimates of total international discards, which include estimates of discards for all fleets fishing in the North sea, are available. These can be compared with the estimates of discards by UK fleets to determine the contribution of UK and other fleets to the total quantities discarded.

Estimated discards (tonnes) of North sea cod, haddock and whiting: (Estimates are given for vessels registered in Scotland (Sco), England, Wales and Northern Ireland (EWN) and for all international fleets combined (Total Int)).

CodHaddockWhiting

Sco

EWN

Total Int.

Sco

EWN

Total Int.

Sco

EWN

Total Int.

1998

10,287

40,500

35,134

45,160

8,861

13,000

1999

2,991

14,200

35,270

42,598

15,563

24,000

2000

4,141

13,700

39,745

48,770

16,211

23,000

2001

4,440

13,900

86,297

118,225

8,869

16,000

2002

1,519

5,700

32,196

45,857

8,315

18,000

2003

1,086

6,400

18,555

23,691

5,931

24,000

2004

1,266

430

5,800

12,834

371

15,551

5,765

2,023

14,000

2005

1,169

604

6,300

7,412

168

8,637

5,547

683

11,000

2006

1,671

581

8,100

14,671

310

17,908

4,457

1,385

10,000

2007

11,892

221

23,600

24,671

322

31,048

3,383

541

6,000