Whether it will report on the outcome of the Agriculture and Fisheries Council held in Brussels on 16-19 December 2002.

I attended the Agriculture and Fisheries Council in Brussels from 16 to 20 December 2002, together with Margaret Beckett, Elliot Morley (DEFRA) and Ian Pearson (Northern Ireland Office).The main fisheries business before the Council centred on three subjects: reform of the Common Fisheries Policy (CFP); a cod and hake recovery plan, and the total allowable catches (TACs) and quotas for 2003. Regulations covering all three subjects were agreed as a package.On CFP reform, three new regulations were adopted: a new framework (or basic) regulation, a regulation establishing an emergency Community measure for scrapping fishing vessels, and a regulation amending the detailed rules and arrangements on Community structural assistance in the fisheries sector.The new framework regulation allows for the continuation of the 6- and 12-mile territorial limits, relative stability (including Hague Preference) as the method for allocating quotas, and the Shetland Box. It also paves the way for the introduction of Regional Advisory Councils and multi-annual management plans. The other regulations now require the phasing out by end-2004 of subsidies for the building of new fishing boats, and adjust the payments available for scrapping of vessels. On cod and hake recovery plans, the Council deferred a decision on the Commission's draft regulation from last December. As a consequence of the International Council for the Exploration of the Sea advice calling for a total moratorium on cod and cod related fisheries, the Commission proposed an interim regulation (as Annex XVII to the TAC and quota regulation) as an alternative cod recovery plan.The centrepiece of Annex XVII is an effort control regime based on a limitation of days spent at sea by vessels catching cod in the North Sea, west of Scotland and Skaggerak and Kattegat. The regulation imposes different limitations on different vessels according to the type of gear in use. The aim is to exclude certain vessels altogether (for example pelagic trawlers) and to impose variable restrictions on other vessels according to how much cod they are deemed to catch. For example, most nephrops vessels will in practice have a 25-day limit per month, while whitefish demersal trawlers will be restricted to seven days per month. As a result of negotiations on such matters as the use of technical measures, decommissioning and steaming days, the UK's demersal trawlers will in practice be allowed 15 days per month rather than seven. The regulation also makes allowance for some flexibility in the use of such days. It allows some movement of days between months and between vessels.The intention is that this should be an interim measure, and that a more sophisticated regime (based on the earlier cod and hake recovery plan) should be agreed by the end of March for implementation by 1 July 2003. Declarations to that effect are recorded.On TACs and quotas, the Council agreed to broadly stable pelagic quotas (a reduction on mackerel but a significant increase on herring), stable nephrops TACs, and significant reductions in key whitefish TACs (such as cod, haddock, whiting, and anglerfish). The TAC reductions on cod and associated stocks of interest to the Scottish industry were of the order of 50% as compared to the Commission's original proposals of around 65%.In addition, the Council agreed to provide financial support to Spanish fishermen and mussel and oyster growers affected by the Prestige oil spill. No new money is involved: the agreement involved a re-allocation of existing Spanish structural funds.The Council also agreed the conclusions of the Commission's action plan for the Mediterranean, which will pave the way for the presentation of specific management measures for the area.In addition, the already agreed regulations for the management of deep-water fisheries were adopted as an "A point".Finally, the Commission also presented its proposal for a new managemen