My Department has issued letters to 6,276 farmers notifying them of the preliminary calculation of their permitted stocking levels for the 2003 ewe premium year on foot of the commonage framework plans. In 4,183 cases there was a requirement to destock on existing levels. More than 650 farmers who had previously had quota frozen will have some restored. The remainder will have no further destocking requirement since their frozen quota already constitutes a sufficient reduction in stocking levels. The average net destocking requirement is 20 ewes per farmer.