Asked by: Lord Browne of Belmont (Democratic Unionist Party - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of remote electronic monitoring of UK fishing vessels.
Answered by Lord Benyon - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
As part of our commitment to delivering a world class fisheries management system, Defra is developing a set of proposals for expanding the use of remote electronic monitoring (REM) in English waters.
Defra is using a strong evidence-base to assess which fisheries and monitoring priorities we should focus on. This will help us to maximise the potential of this technology and ensure that it complements other marine and fisheries reforms, such as fisheries management plans.
Asked by: Lord Browne of Belmont (Democratic Unionist Party - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what incentives they are providing to the fishing industry in order to reduce discards.
Answered by Lord Benyon - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The UK Government is committed to ending the wasteful practice of discarding. Fisheries is a devolved matter, but we seek to work collaboratively with the Devolved Administrations to achieve the best outcomes for the UK as a whole.
On 27 June 2022, we launched a consultation on managing quota in 2023 and beyond. This includes options for using quota to incentivise better behaviours. Reducing discards could form part of this.
Alongside this, we are speaking with industry and other stakeholders about discards reform. This includes consideration of incentives. We will run a formal consultation later in the year.
Asked by: Lord Browne of Belmont (Democratic Unionist Party - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what steps they have taken to ensure that the UK enforces fishing access rights in its waters.
Answered by Lord Benyon - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
All vessels fishing in UK waters must have a licence issued by the relevant UK licensing authority and must comply with the relevant legislation. The Marine Management Organisation monitors fishing activity in English waters and carries out dedicated enforcement and surveillance activity, including through the use of offshore patrol vessels for at-sea surveillance. Where vessels do not comply with these rules, enforcement action can be taken against them.
Asked by: Lord Browne of Belmont (Democratic Unionist Party - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to ensure the effectiveness of the fishing catch recording service.
Answered by Lord Benyon - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
Fisheries is a devolved matter and the information provided therefore relates to England only. Defra works closely with the Marine Management Organisation (MMO) who manage the fishing catch recording service widely known as the ‘Catch App’. The Catch App is used to gather catch information for under 10m fishing vessels which make up approximately 80% of the English fleet.
At present, Catch App compliance by fishermen is at its highest level since its introduction and now sits at 89% across England. Building on this high level of compliance, the Government is now working on three key steps to ensure the effectiveness of the Catch App. These are “review, engage and enforce”.
Firstly, the MMO reviews the implementation of the Catch App through direct feedback from fishermen and via Marine Officers who engage in dockside visits with fishermen. The MMO uses these inputs to inform on any improvements required to the app functionality in order to increase the benefit to fishermen.
Secondly, the MMO engages with fishermen to familiarise themselves with the way the Catch App works, increase their ability to enter accurate data, comply with the requirements and use the functionality of the app for their own benefit.
Thirdly, in 2022 after over two years of review and engagement, the MMO has moved to a phase of enforcing the licence condition requiring fishermen to use the Catch App to ensure that fishermen submit records for each trip.
The Catch App ensures the MMO has a more comprehensive picture of catches from English waters than ever before. This data informs fisheries management, improves traceability, and helps inform decisions on marine developments where previously the inshore fleet did not have data to support their views.
Asked by: Lord Browne of Belmont (Democratic Unionist Party - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the remarks by the then Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs on 20 March 2018 (HC Deb col 176), what progress they have made with the establishment of an exclusive economic zone for UK fishing "that is ours to police and control".
Answered by Lord Benyon - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The UK formally established its exclusive economic zone (EEZ) in 2014. Vessels carrying out commercial fishing in the UK EEZ are regulated by way of a combination of legislative measures and conditions attached to fishing licences, thereby allowing us to control fishing in our waters in a way that was not possible when we were subject to the EU's Common Fisheries Policy.
Asked by: Lord Browne of Belmont (Democratic Unionist Party - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what discussions they have had with representatives of the Northern Irish fishing industry about the effect of (1) the Protocol on Ireland/Northern Ireland, and (2) the UK–EU Trade and Cooperation Agreement, on the fishing industry.
Answered by Lord Benyon - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
(1) Since 1 January 2021 the UK Government has met and engaged in written correspondence with representatives of the Anglo-North Irish Fish Producers Organisation and the Northern Ireland (NI) Fish Producers Organisation on the effect of the Protocol. Minister Victoria Prentis has also met with NI Members of Parliament, Minister Walker and Minister Poots to discuss NI fishers and industry.
Officials in both Defra and the Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs in NI continue to collaborate and to engage with NI fishers on operationalising the Protocol.
(2) Representatives from all regions of the UK industry were briefed on the Trade and Cooperation Agreement earlier this year.
Asked by: Lord Browne of Belmont (Democratic Unionist Party - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what estimate they have made of the amount of discarded fishing gear from foreign fishing fleets around the UK coastline.
Answered by Lord Goldsmith of Richmond Park
The UK is committed to protecting the marine environment. However, due to the transboundary nature of marine litter from discarded fishing gear and the challenges around identifying the provenance of abandoned, lost and discarded fishing gear, we have not made an estimate of the amount of discarded fishing gear from foreign fishing fleets around the UK coastline.
Under the Merchant Shipping Regulations on the Prevention of Pollution by Garbage from Ships (2020), the discharge of all garbage into the sea is prohibited with very limited exceptions. In all cases the discharge of plastic is prohibited. These regulations bring the International Convention for the Prevention of Pollution by Garbage from Ships (MARPOL Annex V) into UK law.
The Regulations require fishing vessels to record the discharge or loss of fishing gear in the Garbage Record Book or ship’s logbook and to report the accidental loss or discharge of fishing gear which poses a significant threat to the marine environment or navigation. Under the Merchant Shipping Regulations it is an offence to fail to report the discharge of fishing gear which poses a significant threat to the marine environment or navigation to (a) the ship’s flag State and (b) any coastal state who has jurisdiction over the waters where the loss or discharge occurs.
The UK collects data on the quantity and type of marine litter in our waters including on seafloor litter, floating litter and beach litter, following methodologies agreed through the OSPAR Convention’s monitoring and assessment programmes. Data is available through the Marine Online Assessment Tool: https://moat.cefas.co.uk/
Recognising the scale, urgency and transboundary nature of the global action needed to tackle marine plastic litter and microplastics, the UK this year has driven the G7 to commit to step up international action to tackle ghost gear, including an agreement to support organisations such as the Global Ghost Gear Initiative and agreement to carefully consider the recommendations of the UK commissioned OECD report ‘Towards G7 Action to Combat Ghost Fishing gear’. The communique and OECD Ghost Gear report can be found here: G7 Climate and Environment Ministers' meeting, May 2021: communiqué - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)
Asked by: Lord Browne of Belmont (Democratic Unionist Party - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to enforce the UK’s fishing rights.
Answered by Lord Gardiner of Kimble
As an independent coastal state, the UK has full responsibility over how it ensures compliance in its fisheries. All fishing vessels in UK waters are required to fish in accordance with UK laws and the conditions of their licences. As control and enforcement is a devolved matter, Defra, the Scottish Government, Welsh Government and Northern Ireland Executive work together to share information and ensure a coordinated approach to monitoring, compliance and enforcement across UK waters.
In England, the Government has undertaken a significant increase in the number of personnel and surveillance assets relating to fisheries protection with a sizeable increase in personnel, an increase in the number of planes available for aerial surveillance and an increase in the level of at-sea surveillance. This strong presence will deter against fisheries infringements, while also enabling our agencies to take robust action where they may occur. In addition, the Joint Maritime Security Centre has been established to enhance joint working between maritime agencies, increase information sharing across Government and maximise benefit from surveillance assets. This enables a more efficient, effective and prioritised maritime patrol enforcement.
Asked by: Lord Browne of Belmont (Democratic Unionist Party - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what steps they have taken to ensure that the fishing catch records service is effective.
Answered by Lord Gardiner of Kimble
To date, over 80% of invited vessels have registered on the under 10 metre catch recording application and the Marine Management Organisation (MMO) continues to engage with industry and provide support during its roll-out across the fleet.
Before launching the app, significant amounts of user research was undertaken and fishers were directly involved in testing a prototype of the app. This feedback was used to develop the service and its functionality before launching it externally.
The MMO is also committed to continuous improvement and based on feedback from those using the app has already improved its functionality and made additional system improvements. This has included increasing the number of ports available within the app, the ability to record weights of fish lower than 1kg and allowing catch to be landed and then weighed on a stable platform prior to being moved for onward sale.
Asked by: Lord Browne of Belmont (Democratic Unionist Party - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what steps they have taken to ensure that trucks exporting fish to France are not delayed at the UK–France border.
Answered by Lord Gardiner of Kimble
We are working closely with businesses that export fish to the EU to ensure they understand and are compliant with new export requirements. We are also meeting with authorities from Member States and the EU weekly to address border issues which are a significant cause of delays.
The Government has established a new Scottish Seafood Exports Taskforce to address medium and longer term export issues faced by traders of seafood. The Taskforce held its first meeting on 12 February with the primary aim is to increase confidence in the seafood and aquaculture supply chain by ensuring medium and longer-term issues are resolved. In addition to this, we have opened the £23 million Seafood Disruption Support Scheme for seafood exporting businesses across the UK that have been affected by the challenges of adjusting to new requirements for exporting to the EU. The Government has also committed to providing £100m of investment to rejuvenate the industry and coastal communities across the UK, on top of the £32m that will replace EU funding this year.