To ask the Scottish Executive what monitoring and assessment took place in relation to the closure of fishing grounds last year as part of the cod recovery plan and what the results of such monitoring and assessment were.

The purpose of the closure of some of the North Sea fishing grounds in 2001 was specifically to try to improve the spawning chances of cod with a view to enhancing future recruitment to the stock. Evaluations at the time predicted that, at best, a 5% increase in egg production might be expected in the North Sea cod stock.

The cod stock is routinely monitored through the sampling of discards and marketed landings and during a series of research vessel cruises. Annual assessments take place within the ICES framework: a stock improvement of sufficient magnitude would be detected by this monitoring. Additional monitoring was not therefore carried out. It is still too early to draw firm conclusions on the efficacy or otherwise of the closure on the state of the cod stock although it is questionable whether such a small predicted benefit to egg production would lead to a detectable improvement in subsequent stock biomass.