Fishing Industry

Melanie Onn Excerpts

Thursday 28th November 2024 Westminster Hall

[Mr Carmichael]

I will take this opportunity to address the visa question; I was going to address it last, but we might as well address it now. The hon. Gentleman is right: especially for inshore fisheries, which are those working within the 12-mile limit of the UK territorial waters, the labour shortages are an absolute chokehold. The bigger boats that fish outside the 12-mile limit can take advantage of transit visas. Frankly, that is an abuse of the transit visa system, but it is the only mechanism available to boats to get the crew they need.

In news reports and on television programmes recently, there have been some quite disgraceful examples of the way in which the transit visa system has been abused. There are those in the industry who need to take a good, long, hard look at themselves. They have brought shame on the industry by the way they have mistreated those they have brought in on transit visas—although, to my mind, that also reinforces the need for a proper system of visas to be introduced for what the Migration Advisory Committee accepts is an occupation with a shortage of available labour.

The crux of the problem is that although the MAC designates fishing as a shortage occupation, the Home Office insists on a standard of English language competence that sits somewhere between O-level and A-level—in fact, it is just short of A-level—in the English system. Obviously, some language skills are necessary, but that standard of language skills goes beyond what is necessary. We have had for years now crews from the Philippines and from some African countries in particular who work in our inshore fleets and other fleets with no real safety concerns about their work, so I see no reason why the Home Office should continue to insist on that language standard, which acts as a barrier to the industry getting the crew it needs. If we accept that bespoke arrangements are required for the fishing industry, to insist on a language requirement that goes across all the workforce arrangements makes absolutely no sense to me.

[Melanie Onn (Great Grimsby and Cleethorpes) (Lab)]

If the solution is to do away with English language standards, does the right hon. Gentleman think that would detract from the point the hon. Member for North East Fife (Wendy Chamberlain) made about trying to attract a domestic workforce and investing in skills for that workforce?

[Mr Carmichael]

No, I do not think it does because, apart from anything else, I am not talking about removing a language requirement completely. It is the level of the requirement that is the issue—this requirement of something just short of A-level for English language. I also think it betrays a particular attitude to what a skilled worker is, which is informed, it seems to me, by people who think we should measure somebody’s skill only by their academic achievements, when in fact the people coming here to work on fishing boats have a much wider range of other skills for which there are no metrics in the current visa arrangements. Having accepted that there is a need for more visas to bring crew in, to get us to the point where we can do more to develop our own crew, it is unfortunate that, for this reason, we are basically undoing all the good work we have done.

To go back to the trade and co-operation agreement, having taken a fairly substantial detour, the question of access to UK waters post-2026 will be critical. For both quota and non-quota stocks, shares are heavily weighted in the EU’s favour, and the EU is more dependent on UK waters to catch its quotas than vice versa. EU vessels’ catch in the UK zone is worth between £450 million and £500 million a year, compared with around £80 billion-worth caught by UK vessels every year in the EU zone.

To put it another way, the UK shares of fishing quotas written into the TCA fall well short of the zonal attachment that was supposed to underpin the negotiations at the time of departure. They do not reflect the reality of where the fish actually are, and amount to an annual transfer of at least £400 million-worth of natural resources from the UK to the EU. The final cost to the fishing industry is far greater as multiplier effects from the fish catches are thought to be significant; they are typically assessed at between 2.5 and 3.5. Will the Minister tell us who will lead the review? What are the UK priorities for it? What engagement will he have with the fishing industry to ensure that he is able to deliver for them what Boris Johnson and the noble Lord Frost at the time of the departure so manifestly failed to?

I am mindful of the fact that I have taken quite a lot of time, but I am taking a lot of interventions. On the question of spatial squeeze, there are currently 48 offshore wind projects planned in Scottish waters alone. Seven of them are fully commissioned; two are under construction. In getting even to this point, the view of the fishing industry is that its voice has simply not been heard or, if it has been, it has been ignored. Many of those offshore wind developments are constructed in highly productive fishing grounds, and there are more on the way. Great British Energy and the Crown Estate announced another fishing licensing round just last year. That cannot be seen in isolation.

The fishing industry understands the need for change. Fishers are not blind to the realities of climate change; they see its effects day and daily in their own nets. The loss of cod in some parts of the North sea seems to be down to the changing temperature of the sea, which is having a real effect. The industry is also, ironically, part of the answer. The fish caught by our fishing industry are a good source of protein caught in a sustainable way in a low-carbon-emitting industry. In the rush to tackle climate change, there seems to be a determination to squeeze out some of the people who are most able to help us to move to that future.

[Melanie Onn]

I discovered an interesting fact following a conversation with my hon. Friend the Member for Scarborough and Whitby (Alison Hume). She has been talking with her local fishers, who say that the population of brown crab in Scarborough and Whitby has gone up as they are making their homes in and around the wind farms there. So there is some subtlety and nuance in all of this.

[Mr Carmichael]

Absolutely, yes. The picture is complex and it depends what is being put where. However, for some of the spawning grounds for whitefish that have been affected, the evidence suggests that the construction is causing a problem. If we damage our spawning grounds, we are storing up a problem for ourselves a few years down the line.

Floating offshore wind is a particular issue for the bigger boats that are further offshore. When floating offshore wind farms are being constructed, virtually the whole area of their construction is closed down. It is impossible for those boats to trawl safely due to the cables that are there because of the floating offshore wind turbines.

I have one other matter that I want to place on record, and on which I seek the Minister’s continued assistance. His predecessors in office did take this seriously. It is not something that lies within the remit of the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, but it matters very much to our fishing community: it is the safety of fishermen at sea, which is a Department for Transport responsibility.

I have had two truly shocking incidents in my constituency in recent years. The Pesorsa Dos, a Spanish gill-netter, tried to foul the propeller of a local trawler, the Alison Kay, some time ago, and the Antonio Maria, a French longliner, did the same thing to another local boat, the Defiant. Both incidents happened inside the 200-mile limit—the exclusive economic zone—but outside the 12-mile limit of territorial waters. The United Nations convention on the law of the sea tells us that safety action has to be taken by the flag state. The flag state of the Pesorsa Dos is Germany, and I am afraid Germany does not see much interest to be had from prosecuting a German-registered but Spanish-owned trawler fishing to the west of Shetland.

The position remains dire. Sooner or later, if such behaviour is allowed to continue, somebody will end up with a boat at the bottom of the sea. This has to be taken seriously. Representations need to be made to the relevant authorities in Germany and France. Some effort has been made by Ministers at the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office and the Department for Transport, but more needs to be done. We simply cannot leave our fishing industry unprotected in this way.

The position with the Pesorsa Dos is interesting because it was fishing not just in UK waters but around Ireland’s. The Irish authorities took an approach rather different from the hands-off attitude of Marine Scotland and the Marine and Coastguard Agency, and took the Pesorsa Dos into port, where she was held for some considerable time. Of course, if she is in port, she is not out earning money for her owners. They threw the book at the Pesorsa Dos and its skipper.

The Irish enforcement agents, when they were climbing on board, found that the ladder provided for them broke. That meant an immediate €10,000 fine for failing to provide safe access. The matter recently finished in the Irish courts with a series of fines and the forfeiture of gear worth £470,000. I suspect that will concentrate the minds of the owners and skippers of that boat better than the hand-wringing and legalism we have in this country. A bit more of that sort of enforcement would be enormously welcome.

We all know that Al Capone was eventually done for tax evasion. Let us hope that the modern gangsters of the sea might be brought to book in a similar way, if not necessarily for the misdeeds themselves.

--- Later in debate ---

[Melanie Onn (Great Grimsby and Cleethorpes) (Lab)]

It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Mr Efford. I thank the Backbench Business Committee for granting this debate, and I extend my thanks to the right hon. Member for Orkney and Shetland (Mr Carmichael) for corralling us all here for this important debate. As the chair of the all-party parliamentary group on fisheries, he is a substantial expert in this field, and we have debated it many times—I am delighted to be back in the House and able to participate in these discussions. I agree with much of what he said in his opening speech, which reflects his years of experience on this topic.

On the anticipated finalisation of the transitional arrangements review in 2026, could the Minister bear in mind that the catching sector is willing and able to work and support the Government with all the facts and arguments that they will need when they enter into those negotiations? I am sure that the Minister will have heard the requests in the speeches today, which I add to by asking whether there could be an indication of the Government’s aims, ambitions and approach in those negotiations. What are they planning to do, particularly to achieve longer-term settlements rather than year-on-year negotiations? Nobody can run a business effectively in those circumstances and we would not ask or expect it of any other sector. If the Government intend to show respect to the fishing industry, addressing that would go some way to doing that. We have a golden opportunity to demonstrate our support for the sector.

I am going to talk an awful lot about processing, and I remind Members that this is not just about the catching sector. I am the Member of Parliament for Great Grimsby and Cleethorpes, and it will be of no surprise to anybody that the processing side of the industry means so much to our local economy, to those who continue to work in the industry and to the small and large businesses that operate in processing.

My constituency plays an essential role in serving the nation’s seafood. Almost every major UK food retailer buys its seafood from Grimsby, and the town continues to be a thriving hub for seafood processing, such as the bespoke smoking from our 150-year-old smokehouses. The Minister enjoyed a visit to my constituency to see them in action. We embrace the traditional techniques of smoking high-quality product and deliver that around the country, including to very high-end retailers. From Grimsby to Harvey Nichols might seem like a long stretch, but it is actually just a short hop through our seafood processing sector.

Good-quality food production buildings are very hard to find. Whether it is cold stores or processing factories, Grimsby is home to some of the best sites anywhere in the UK. We have around 500 food-related companies processing 70% of the nation’s seafood, most of which currently comes from Norway, Iceland and the Faroes, and is frozen and shipped through our local ports—not quite the romantic notion of what the fishing industry should or possibly could be, with direct catching and processing locally. The world has changed, and it is worth remembering that that is the reality of the sector and of the industry, so that it continues to support communities.

Grimsby is widely regarded as the seafood town. On the way in on the train, we see remnants of a sign that called us “Europe’s food town”, although perhaps we do not want to mention Europe quite so much in Grimsby any more. The industry is now worth more than £2.5 billion every year, so it is nothing to be shy about. I know that success has not always been the case, however, and I have seen at first hand that my constituents are not afraid to dig deep when times are tough.

Following the decline of the trawling industry, which we have seen in so many coastal communities across the nation, Great Grimsby and Cleethorpes stood tall and proud and adapted. That adaption to focus on the supply chain and processing of seafood means that currently, across Grimsby and the wider Humber region, there are 6,000 people directly employed in more than 50 approved seafood processing units.

It is not just processing that our area holds expertise in. As of this year, I am proud to say that the next generation of seafood professionals will hone their skills at a dedicated new training facility in Grimsby. The UK seafood school at Grimsby Institute will provide the next generation with the skills and knowledge that they need to thrive in the industry, with up to 75 students being trained to use those facilities in the school’s first year. I was pleased to go to the opening, where I saw the skills of the first tranche of new students. This is so important—the price of fish used to be a throwaway comment, but fish is now an expensive product, so retailers and processors are prepared to take risks in the training to prevent high fish wastage. This route encourages young people to be creative and to see seafood as high end and specialised.

That is incredibly welcome, but it does not stop there. The Minister will be pleased to know that the University of Lincoln is opening a centre of excellence, which will focus on the skills required by the processing sector in the local area to support people into highly skilled, well paid and long-term processing jobs. I was surprised to learn that a skilled, experienced filleter can expect to earn in the region of £70,000, because they are so in demand and waste so little fish. As tough a job as it is, it is well remunerated.

The Government have an essential role to play in enhancing and advancing this industry through their negotiations. The Minister will know that I have previously raised the issue of the distant water fleet. It would be welcome if the Government started to engage thoughtfully in the latest rounds of negotiations with our international allies.

Many businesses in Grimsby have benefited from multimillion-pound infrastructure and skills grants from the £100 million UK seafood fund. I have written to the Minister previously to ask about the status of its future replacement. That support be greatly appreciated by coastal communities with fishing sectors, because it has been used to create investment, extend jobs, create new jobs and upskill local communities so that they are able to access those opportunities in my area. Given the success of the initiative, it would be helpful to understand whether there is a plan to reopen the scheme or launch one, so that businesses in our local seafood cluster can continue to benefit from that support.

The fishing industry is important not just to this Government’s commitment to economic growth but to their commitment to building the healthiest generation ever. Fish is the cornerstone of a healthy diet, as it is rich in essential nutrients, such as omega-3 fatty acids, high-quality protein, vitamins and minerals. Those nutrients are vital to the healthy functioning of the heart and brain, and they reduce the risk of chronic diseases. By incorporating more fish into our diet, we can significantly improve our overall health and wellbeing. I had salmon at lunch time, as I hope everybody did—I was going to ask for a show of hands, but I will not embarrass people. Encouraging the consumption of fish not only helps individuals to lead healthier lives but reduces the burden on our healthcare system by preventing diet-related illnesses.

We have a food strategy, and we have a food tsar in Henry Dimbleby. We have great structures such as the NHS. We have great programmes of providing lunches in schools. Could we incorporate those aims into a state function, such as ensuring that fish is regularly on the menu for people in the NHS, care homes or education, so that they can benefit from all its goodness? That will help to support our sector as well as anything else.

On the topic of delicious food, if anybody is in the vicinity of Great Grimsby and Cleethorpes, they would be more than welcome to join me in some of our world-renowned chippies. Whether that is Ernie Becketts, the Ocean Fish Bar, Wybers Chippy or Steels Cornerhouse Restaurant, they can be certain that they will have the best fish and chips.

There are other elements that throw risk into the future of some of those stores. We are currently undergoing consultation on the pedestrianisation of Cleethorpes marketplace. My hon. Friend the Member for Brent West (Barry Gardiner) is giggling from a sedentary position, but it is very serious. Steels has been in existence in the Cleethorpes constituency for more than 100 years—it is incredibly well known and traditional. Those who run it are so concerned about some of these environmental changes—the anticipated pedestrianisation and roadworks —that they worry it will be forced to close its doors in the next 10 months, which is very problematic and does not encourage people to eat more fish, as they should be doing. I said it would be a slight detour, but I got back to the point.

I will conclude. The future of the fishing industry in the UK holds significant promise in both supply and production. By continuing to support and invest in this essential industry, we can ensure its sustainability and growth, which will not only bolster our economy but enhance our food security. The Government’s role in facilitating trade agreements and providing direct investment is crucial.

[Andrew George (St Ives) (LD)]

It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Mr Efford. It is also a pleasure to follow the hon. Member for Great Grimsby and Cleethorpes (Melanie Onn), who gave what I suppose is best described as a commercial break in our proceedings, as she did a fantastic job of marketing the health and other benefits of consuming fish. This is déjà vu for me, in that I remember my first fisheries debate in 1997, for heaven’s sake. That was the annual fisheries debate we used to undertake in the main Chamber. One of the annual features of that debate was a contribution from the then hon. Member for Great Grimsby, the late Austin Mitchell, who I recollect was temporarily renamed by deed poll Mr Haddock, so enthusiastic was he to promote the fishing industry. I do not know whether the hon. Member for Great Grimsby and Cleethorpes is proposing to have a name change herself; she is certainly moving in that direction, given the nature of what she told us.

[Melanie Onn]

It is funny that the hon. Gentleman should mention that. I made it very clear in my maiden speech in 2015 that I would not be changing my name to Haddock or any other fish species. Interestingly, although Austin changed his name by deed poll to Austin Haddock, famously carrying a Harry Haddock inflatable to Parliament, we do not believe he ever actually changed it back.

[Andrew George]

Well, he died a fish, and we are very saddened by his demise. I should reflect, as we certainly did in those days, on the risk that people take to put fish on our table, of which my right hon. Friend the Member for Orkney and Shetland (Mr Carmichael) rightly reminded us. I remember that in 1997, we lost seven men in the industry in my constituency alone. It was just after the loss of the Margaretha Maria 200 miles off the coast of west Cornwall, in which we lost four men from Newlyn. We have sadly lost others in the industry since then. It is worth reminding ourselves just what a hazardous trade it is.

It is also a pleasure to see the Minister in his place. I thank him for coming down to my constituency in the summer to visit Newlyn and for the genuine interest he takes in the industry, both in the catching sector and in the processing and marketing sector, which certainly impressed everyone there who met him. I am very grateful to him for making that visit.

I come back to a debate on this subject after a decade’s sabbatical in the real world, which I must say is a very pleasurable place, and reflecting on a number of changes within the fishing industry in that time. Obviously, there is the B word; we do not want to return to the skirmishes of Brexit this afternoon, but it has certainly been a momentous change. During the period I was away, the fishing industry and fishermen were used as the poster boys for the Brexit campaign. I have to say that they were sold a very cruel hoax in terms of the outcome of the vote; they were made a lot of promises that have not been fulfilled at all.

I had been prepared to concede that there was a major opportunity for the fishing industry, and that it was the one sector within the UK economy that could potentially have benefited as a result of Brexit, but such a benefit has not been delivered. Those people who made promises at that time just walked away from the industry after they had come down to places such as Newlyn to have their photographs taken for the purposes of their referendum campaign. That caused a lot of bitterness within the industry. Nevertheless, we move on.

As my right hon. Friend the Member for Orkney and Shetland said, the common fisheries policy was often described as the worst possible policy apart from all the others, because fishing is a very difficult industry to manage, as the Minister knows and, indeed, as we all know. I remember engaging in fishing debates 10 years ago and there was a genuine belief then that we could move the industry away from the annual cliff-edge of the quota negotiations to a multi-annual system that would enable the industry, especially the catching sector, to plan five years ahead. Yes, there would be adjustments during that five-year, multi-annual rolling programme, but nevertheless it would provide a greater degree of certainty.

As I said in my intervention on my right hon. Friend, the science supports a multi-annual programme. If we want a recovery programme for most of the stock, there is no reason why we cannot project forward five years—not with great certainty, admittedly, regarding the situation five years hence, but with an indicative quota going forward over that period. That would help the industry to plan for the future.

Another outcome for the industry in my area has been the detriment to the very significant export trade that existed. A number of companies operating back then —particularly those at the smaller end, admittedly—have gone out of business as a result of the impediments that predictably, indeed inevitably, were placed in their way, particularly for those involved in the export of live fish to the continent. That was predictable but avoidable, and it has clearly had a detrimental impact on the local economy. Nevertheless, our local community adjusts itself to the challenges it faces.

The hon. Members for South East Cornwall (Anna Gelderd) and for Truro and Falmouth (Jayne Kirkham) have made some excellent cases on behalf of Cornwall’s fishing industry and the important role it plays in the local economy. Indeed, the Cornish Fish Producers Organisation produced a report, which I know was handed to the Minister, called “The True Value of Seafood to Cornwall”. It shows that the industry contributes £174 million to Cornwall’s gross value added per annum, with 500 full-time equivalent jobs in the catching sector alone. That equates to about 8,000 jobs in the seafood supply chain, so it is a significant player in the Cornish economy. It is often ignored, but nevertheless very important, particularly in my part of Cornwall with Newlyn being the largest port with a significant market.

The hon. Member for Truro and Falmouth also mentioned the need for a fishing and marine strategy, and I hope the Minister will take that on board. There are both opportunities and challenges associated with rolling out, as the Government must, with our support, the offshore wind programme in the Celtic sea, which we in Cornwall are keen to ensure achieves maximum benefit to the local economy and the community. There is no reason why it cannot be rolled out in a manner that enhances fishing opportunities rather than creating a detriment to the industry, but that requires the Minister, Energy Ministers and others to engage in dialogue with the industry to ensure that the location of those sites is planned with great care.

I want to draw the Minister’s attention to one of the—probably—unintended consequences of the decisions taken, through a little story of an individual fisherman from my constituency. An inshore fishermen from Cadgwith, who fishes from Newlyn, has been affected by the cut in pollack quotas. As the hon. Member for Truro and Falmouth said, compensation was offered to the industry, and many who received the funds used them, naturally, because they are fishermen, to go into other sectors where in fact there was pressure. For example, the industry is trying to protect the crawfish sector and implement a recovery programme. By then, there was no reason why the fishermen could not invest in the gear necessary to catch crawfish, and that had a detrimental impact on the recovery programme efforts.

--- Later in debate ---

[Barry Gardiner]

I am delighted to agree with the right hon. Gentleman, who chairs the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee. It also adds grist to the mill of the five-year approach, but we perhaps need to be careful. It is perfectly reasonable to move to a five-year approach, but it would not necessarily immediately lead to us increasing quota. It might, in the first year certainly, actually lead to a more precautionary approach because one was looking at things over the five-year period. That might not be something that his constituents would appreciate so much.

We have heard today about spatial squeeze and how the fishing industry no longer has unfettered access to the entire ocean. That is true, but as has been pointed out it is unavoidable; indeed, for reasons of wider sustainability and our energy supply, it is important, but it is also an argument for acting in a way that grows our fish stocks.

[Melanie Onn]

On that point about the renewable side of things, there is an opportunity to bring the industry into consultation with the likes of the Crown Estate at a much earlier stage so that the voices of all of those co-located spatial sharers can be heard and planned around. There are examples of good relationships between offshore wind developers and fishing communities.

[Barry Gardiner]

I am delighted that I sat down to receive my hon. Friend’s intervention because she is entirely right. What she said goes to the remarks made by our hon. Friend the Member for South East Cornwall (Anna Gelderd) who, because of illness, is no longer in her place. She made a point about ensuring that consultations happen in accordance with the tides so that fisherfolk will actually be at the consultations and not out at sea. Her point was very interesting because that is not always appreciated.