Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what discussions she has had with her counterparts in other EU member states on the effect of proposed changes to the minimum landing size of bass on salmon and sea trout stocks.

There have been extensive discussions with other EU Member States and the European Commission on the proposed changes to the minimum landing size of bass during the current process of agreeing bass management measures. To date these discussions have not included consideration of possible effects of these measures on salmon and sea trout stocks, although our general expectation is that any decrease in bass fishing effort will also help protect salmonids.