Where the 15% figure in respect of possible future decommissioning originated and how this figure was calculated.

Article 6 of Annex XVII of Council Regulation 2341/2002 provides that the Commission may allocate additional fishing days to member states on the basis of the results or expected results of decommissioning programmes in 2002 and 2003. As part of the negotiations during the December 2002 Agriculture and Fisheries Council, the number of days a UK vessel could spend at sea in the regulated area carrying nets of mesh sizes of 100mm or more was negotiated upwards from seven days to 15 days per month. This was partly on the basis that further decommissioning in the UK during 2003 would reduce our fishing effort on cod by a further 15 to 20%.