Fishing Industry: Government Support

Debate between Alec Shelbrooke and Jim Shannon

Wednesday 1st July 2026 Westminster Hall

[Jim Shannon (Strangford) (DUP)]

It is a pleasure to serve under your chairship, Sir Alec. I especially thank the hon. Member for Aberdeenshire North and Moray East (Seamus Logan) for his opening of the debate. It is a real pleasure to work alongside him in addressing the issues of visas, quotas and many other things that he referred to. He and I have had separate meetings with the Immigration Minister, the hon. Member for Dover and Deal (Mike Tapp). The Minister today, the hon. Member for Portsmouth South (Stephen Morgan), may want to engage with him on the visa issue. I think we had quite positive meetings with the Immigration Minister about a way forward, and I thank him for that.

I will speak specifically on the Northern Ireland fishing sector. In 2024, it generated some £50 million in landing values, employed 445 people full time, and supported some 6,500 jobs ashore across Northern Ireland’s rural and coastal communities. The impact of fishing in Northern Ireland is massive, as it is in the constituency of the hon. Member for Aberdeenshire North and Moray East and across all Scotland. Fishing is woven into the very fabric of Northern Ireland’s identity—culturally rich, diverse and shaped by a maritime heritage that stretches back to the 14th century, when Northern Irish vessels supplied fish throughout Ireland, across the British Isles and into European markets.

The importance of the long-term survival of the Northern Ireland fishing industry cannot be overstated. Fishing is at the heart of the cultural identity of coastal communities. Without fishing, these communities lose their soul, identity and pride. I represent the village of Portavogie in Strangford. I do not represent directly the villages of Ardglass and Kilkeel, but they are represented by a Member who does not attend Parliament. On behalf of them, through the Anglo Northern Ireland Fish Producers Organisation, I represent all three ports.

The Northern Ireland fishing industry is facing an unsustainable decrease in the Irish sea’s available fishing grounds through expanding offshore marine protected areas, proposed bans on bottom-towed gear, rapid offshore renewable development and new restrictions imposed by the Isle of Man authorities. The Northern Ireland fishing industry has lost nearly 9,000 km of fishing grounds in the Irish sea over the last couple of decades, through a combination of marine protected areas, active and consented wind farm developments and other spatial restrictions. That is more than half the land area of Northern Ireland, and it is threatening the sustainability of the remaining fishing grounds through displacement of fishing effort into an ever-decreasing area.

The industry has two greatest spatial concerns. First, there is the ongoing Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs consultation on management measures restricting bottom trawling in marine protected areas in the Northern Ireland offshore region, which strengthens a further loss of key fishing grounds for the nephrops fleet.

Secondly, there is the issue of UK skilled visas, which the hon. Member for Aberdeenshire North and Moray East referred to. The Northern Ireland offshore area is crucial to the fleet, particularly to those vessels with crew employed via the transit visa mechanism, who can only fish outside territorial waters. That refers specifically to the loss of access to the Isle of Man waters for all Northern Ireland vessels with any crew on transit or UK skilled worker visas.

I am very pleased to see the Minister. He always gives us helpful responses, and we will test him again today. I ask him again to engage with the hon. Member for Dover and Deal, who came up with some ideas that I think the industry is sympathetic to. As you will know, Sir Alec, life as an MP is about solutions. The hon. Member for Aberdeenshire North and Moray East and I believe that there is a solution, so we would be very keen to see the hon. Member for Dover and Deal’s suggestions taken up as a way forward.

I urge the Government to support a balanced planning system that protects fishing and our fishermen as a legitimate food-producing industry vital for the UK’s fishing industry. Access to Isle of Man waters for Northern Ireland vessels with any crew on transit or UK skilled worker visas has disadvantaged us greatly, so we are deeply concerned about that.

The Northern Ireland industry wants to work with the Home Office to co-design a visa system that is fit for purpose, that meets the needs of Government and industry and that delivers a sustainable seafood supply chain for the future. The hon. Member for Aberdeenshire North and Moray East and I, along with others in the Chamber today, wish to work with the Home Office to co-design a visa system that is fit for purpose. To do nothing puts at risk an industry that is at the heart of Northern Ireland’s coastal communities, which provides jobs, delivers economic growth and is core to the cultural pride and identity of local fishing villages.

Oil prices have been a real bugbear for the sector back home. Although oil prices are now starting to come down, the increase in the cost of fuel has had a significant impact on the operating costs of fishing vessels and therefore on profitability. Before the Iranian war, fuel represented between 15% and 30% of operating costs. The price increases during the war meant that fuel prices rose to 50% of operating costs, which is quite unsustainable.

Fishing communities in Northern Ireland that have already faced decades of disruption now face a series of simultaneous pressures that threaten their long-term viability. Fishermen confronted with such changes are left with profound uncertainties that exacerbate financial stress as well as mental health issues for them and their families.

Food security and economic security will depend on the ability to maintain a sustainable fishing industry in Northern Ireland. With the right foresight and with a committed cross-Government policy, we all believe that the industry can sustain itself, remain productive and remain, as it has been for centuries, the cornerstone of the communities that have long lived along our coast. If we ignore the concerns of the Northern Ireland fishing communities, our rich and irreplaceable heritage could be lost.

I know that the Minister will never ignore us, but we will make sure that he does not. I thank the hon. Member for Aberdeenshire North and Moray East for introducing the debate. I look forward to hearing from other Members, including the hon. Member for Arbroath and Broughty Ferry (Lara Bird), who has become quite a regular in Westminster Hall today. I congratulate her: it is a real pleasure to see that, having made her maiden speech yesterday, she has come to Westminster Hall twice today. I had better watch out.

[Sir Alec Shelbrooke (in the Chair)]

Well, with an introduction like that, I call Lara Bird.