Reading West MP, Martin Salter and Labour Parliamentary Spokesman for Angling has today secured written confirmation from the Government that this week’s EU Fisheries Council meeting has seen the end of the threat to make recreational sea anglers catches count against the EU quota for the UK. In a letter to Mr Salter Fisheries Minister, Huw Irranca-Davies who negotiated the climb down in Luxembourg wrote:

“There is absolutely no requirement for recreational catches to count against quota, even if management measures are agreed by the Council.”

The Minister, in response to some of the inaccurate and misleading accounts that have been circulated regarding the arrangements that EU countries must make to monitor recovery stocks confirmed to Mr Salter that it is the Government’s intention to introduce a limited and proportionate sampling regime on a purely voluntary basis. His letter stated:

“Member States must monitor recreational catches of recovery stocks (cod, sole, plaice, hake) on the basis of a sampling plan (paragraph 3).  We have not yet decided how we will do this and will be consulting stakeholders about this shortly.  But it does not mean every angler will have to complete a form every time they catch a cod.  We will seek to adopt a sampling plan that is targeted, risk-based and as unobtrusive as possible, consistent with our obligation to collect information on recreational activity.”

Mr Salter said:

“I have been somewhat surprised and disappointed by some of the nonsense that has been circulating following this weeks Fisheries Council meeting in Luxembourg. We now have it in black and white that recreational sea anglers’ sea catches will not count against quota so it’s job done and well done Huw. Even our Conservative opponents have put out a press release hailing this development as a ’success’, therefore I’m at a loss to know why attempts are being made to claim the opposite and to suggest that the quota will still apply to anglers. With regards to the monitoring of recovery stocks I would have thought that anyone who values conservation would not want to see the sea angling sector excluded from voluntary arrangements to check on how these species are doing.”