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Community waters mainly took place in the latter part of the calendar year, the Norwegians tended to prolong the negotiations until very shortly before the year was due to start, thus leaving Member States very little time to assess the position. Scientific advice was that the fish stock position was poor and that a significant cut-back in the catch was needed. The Commission, extraordinarily, were proposing a bigger reduction than recommended by their own

cientists. In addition the deal emerging from their

scussions with Norway would give Norwegian fishermen an creased share of the much lower figures which the

ssion proposed for cod and haddock, the two most ivortant species. This was impossible to defend to British fishermen. There would be an uncomfortable Parlamentary debate that day. He intended to attack the Commission proposal which he regarded as totally unreasonable. He could only assume that the Spanish Fisheries Commissioner wished to make the Common Fisheries Policy unworkable in the hope that Spanish fishermen would in the end ever with an increased share of the catch.

In a brief discussion it was noted that these issues were crucial for the sh fishing industry, especially in Scotland. It was

icable that the Commission should propose reductions greater than the scientists recommended: allocating extra coaddock to Norway, particularly in these circumstances, ld be inflammatory. The Commission was also seegto determine the detailed manner in which national quotes should be utilised, a matter which had in the past always been left to national decision. It was questionable whether the deal could be accepted at all unless it was proved. Through success in past negotiations, the United Kingdom had secured a favourable share of the available ach. Any revision of the Fisheries Policy would almostnevitably be to our disadvantage. This made it essential to defend the principle of "relative stability" as a way of preventing incursions by other Member States, notably Spain.

Quota-Hopping: European Court of Justice

THE MINISTER OF AGRICULTURE, FISHERIES AND FOOD said that the European Court had that morning given judgment in the Agegate and Jaderow cases. These cases concernede measures which the Government had taken to combat hose Spanish fishermen who had gained access to United Kingden fish quotas by reregistering their vessels as British vessels. Their original intention had been to continua to operate from, and land catches in, Spain: their report, probably incorrect, of what they had caught in British waters would then be counted against the British quota. The Government had taken steps, most recently through the Merchant Shipping Act, to impose conditions upon

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