Part of Oral Answers to Questions — Agriculture, Fisheries and Food – in the House of Commons am 12:00 am ar 9 Mai 1991.
My right hon. Friend the Minister has already begun that debate with the fishing industry. We accept that we can put together a package of measures that will be of benefit to the industry, and it is essential that we do so because we are talking about the long-term future of the stocks.
On the capacity problem, may I point out to the hon. Gentleman what I am sure he already knows: when we finally receive the figures for the first guidance programme from Brussels, we will find that the United Kingdom is over target by much less than was originally suspected. We do not have any idea about the targets for the second programme and, until we have them, it is clearly a little premature to talk about how we can reach a target that does not yet exist. However, we have begun discussions on a sensible package of proposals and we shall pursue them.