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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, if the Government will commit to setting future catch limits for cod in line with scientific advice to allow stocks to recover and rebuild.

The UK advocates an approach towards setting Total Allowable Catches for cod stocks and other species that is founded on the best available scientific advice, which seeks to maintain or rebuild sustainable fish stocks and fisheries in the long term. For many whitefish stocks, such as cod, a further key consideration when setting the Total Allowable Catch is their interaction with other stocks caught in the same mixed fishery.