Fisheries Bill [Lords] Debate
Full Debate: Read Full DebateDepartment: Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
Kate Osborne
Main Page: Kate Osborne (Labour - Jarrow)Department Debates - View all Kate Osborne's debates with the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
Fisheries Bill [Lords]
Kate Osborne ExcerptsTuesday 1st September 2020
(3 years, 7 months ago)
Commons ChamberRead Full debate Fisheries Act 2020 Read Hansard Text Read Debate Ministerial Extracts Amendment Paper: HL Bill 71-R-II(Rev) Revised second marshalled list for Report - (22 Jun 2020)
Kate Osborne (Jarrow) (Lab)
I am grateful for the opportunity to speak in this important debate. Ahead of today’s debate, like my hon. Friend the Member for Bristol East (Kerry McCarthy), I received hundreds of emails from my constituents in Jarrow asking me to support a ban on super trawlers and other destructive fishing vessels from UK marine protected areas—MPAs. These areas are designated to protect our precious biodiversity and we should do all we can to safeguard them.
As environmental campaigners such as Greenpeace have noted, the Bill in its current format misses the opportunity to ban industrial super trawlers from UK MPAs. MPAs exist to protect vulnerable ecosystems and marine life. They also benefit our local fishing communities as fish stocks are rejuvenated throughout our waters. It is therefore extremely concerning to read that an investigation by Greenpeace shows that fishing ships over 100 metres in length spent almost 3,000 hours fishing in UK MPAs in 2019. It has also been reported that super trawlers vastly increased their fishing in the UK’s MPAs during the covid-19 lockdown, while most of the UK’s smaller vessels were confined to port.
The Bill in its current format does not only contain a lack of detail regarding super trawlers and MPAs; it fails to include anything on how fishers will be assisted in cutting down on the use of harmful plastics or adopting the use of greener technologies, both at sea and during processing. There is also no statutory commitment for the sector to meet net-zero emissions. The Bill also fails to cover how the Government will stop foreign vessels undercutting UK boats on safety or employment standards. It is the case that most super trawlers land their fish in Denmark or other European countries. We need to ensure that the UK fishing quota is redistributed to smaller vessels away from super trawlers. That would mean more jobs in UK fishing communities and would make fishing more sustainable.
Alongside Greenpeace, many of my Jarrow constituents have called on me to do all I can to ensure that destructive super trawlers are banned from fishing in the UK’s MPAs. The ban would pave the way for a network of fully or highly protected MPAs to be off limits to all destructive industrial activities, covering at least 30% of the UK’s waters by 2030, bringing the UK in line with the international 30 by 30 target.
In conclusion, the Government have in fact called for the global community to increase protection of the world’s oceans to 30% by 2030. I hope that they will follow through on that commitment by supporting a ban on super trawlers fishing in marine protected areas.