BRITAIN IS DEFIANT ON FISH QUOTAS

photo: Emma Bonino outlining her plants to reduce of fish by up to 40 per cent

by Leyla Linton and Michael Hornsby

BRITAIN will not cut the I capacity of its fishing fleet I unless the European Union acts to stop foreign "quota hopping" trawlers taking British fish, Douglas Hogg, the Agriculture Minister. said yesterday.

Mr Hogg was reacting to a call from Emma Bonino, the European Fisheries Commissioner, for a 40 per cent cut in fishing catches by all EU member states fleets in the next six years.

Speaking in Brussels before a meeting of EU fisheries ministers in Luxembourg on Monday, Signora Bonino said unless catches were cut "fishing will be reduced to a law of the jungle, and we will see the collapse of the fleets and the end of fish stocks with irreversible consequences".

Mr Hogg, commenting after meeting southwest fishing industry leaders in Plymouth, said that the proposed 40 per cent cut would be "very unacceptable" to the Government. "We will not implement a compulsory reduction in our own capacity until the problem of quota-hoppers has been resolved," he said.