Whether it supported a decrease in minimum landing si'es of any species during the last European fisheries council and, if not, what steps …

The Scottish Executive did not support the Commission's proposal to reduce the minimum landing size of certain fish. Indeed, we argued against it because we believed it sent the wrong signals to the industry.However, there was a logic to the Commission's proposal. The minimum landing size of fish is related to mesh size. If you increase the minimum landing size of fish, without ensuring a corresponding increase in mesh size, the number of discards is increased.The Commission proposed a reduction in the minimum landing size because it decreases the number of fish discarded, related to the mesh sizes that are currently in use.We successfully argued for an increase in the minimum landing size of plaice, reflecting the fact that these are relatively hardy fish that can survive discarding.