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

To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the risk of imported seafood into the United Kingdom sourced from illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing; and whether any risk has changed over the last ten years.

Answered by Baroness Hayman of Ullock - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)

The UK Government is committed to preventing seafood caught from illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing from entering the UK supply chain. Defra works closely with the Marine Management Organisation (MMO) and Port Health Authorities to manage this risk. For example, the UK maintains a strict ban on seafood imports from countries that have been identified as non-cooperative in tackling IUU fishing as well as seafood caught by vessels included in the UK’s IUU vessel list identified as having engaged in IUU fishing. Controls are also in place to prevent foreign vessels accessing UK ports if suspected of engaging in IUU fishing. Furthermore, all wild-caught fish imported into the UK must be accompanied by validated catch certificates to ensure legality and traceability, and we will be updating the information required on catch certificates later next year. These changes will improve the robustness of traceability measures in place and will ensure that UK exporters can continue to re-export seafood originating from other countries to the EU. The MMO has recently launched a campaign called ‘Fish, Trace, Ship’ to highlight to industry the expected changes.

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

To ask His Majesty's Government whether they will update the catch certificate for seafood imports to mirror changes being made by the EU to its catch certificate scheme.

Answered by Baroness Hayman of Ullock - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)

The UK Government is committed to preventing seafood caught from illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing from entering the UK supply chain. Defra works closely with the Marine Management Organisation (MMO) and Port Health Authorities to manage this risk. For example, the UK maintains a strict ban on seafood imports from countries that have been identified as non-cooperative in tackling IUU fishing as well as seafood caught by vessels included in the UK’s IUU vessel list identified as having engaged in IUU fishing. Controls are also in place to prevent foreign vessels accessing UK ports if suspected of engaging in IUU fishing. Furthermore, all wild-caught fish imported into the UK must be accompanied by validated catch certificates to ensure legality and traceability, and we will be updating the information required on catch certificates later next year. These changes will improve the robustness of traceability measures in place and will ensure that UK exporters can continue to re-export seafood originating from other countries to the EU. The MMO has recently launched a campaign called ‘Fish, Trace, Ship’ to highlight to industry the expected changes.

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

To ask His Majesty's Government whether they plan to increase scrutiny of seafood imports that are of high risk of coming from illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing.

Answered by Baroness Hayman of Ullock - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)

The UK Government is committed to preventing seafood caught from illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing from entering the UK supply chain. Defra works closely with the Marine Management Organisation (MMO) and Port Health Authorities to manage this risk. For example, the UK maintains a strict ban on seafood imports from countries that have been identified as non-cooperative in tackling IUU fishing as well as seafood caught by vessels included in the UK’s IUU vessel list identified as having engaged in IUU fishing. Controls are also in place to prevent foreign vessels accessing UK ports if suspected of engaging in IUU fishing. Furthermore, all wild-caught fish imported into the UK must be accompanied by validated catch certificates to ensure legality and traceability, and we will be updating the information required on catch certificates later next year. These changes will improve the robustness of traceability measures in place and will ensure that UK exporters can continue to re-export seafood originating from other countries to the EU. The MMO has recently launched a campaign called ‘Fish, Trace, Ship’ to highlight to industry the expected changes.

Found: of Haslemere (Crossbench; Life peer) Lord Meston (Crossbench; Excepted Hereditary) Baroness Miller of Chilthorne Domer

Found: of Haslemere (Crossbench; Life peer) Lord Meston (Crossbench; Excepted Hereditary) Baroness Miller of Chilthorne Domer

Found: of Haslemere (Crossbench; Life peer) Lord Meston (Crossbench; Excepted Hereditary) Baroness Miller of Chilthorne Domer

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