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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what recent assessment he has made of the potential implications for his policies of the Centre for Environment, Fisheries and Aquaculture Science's report entitled Assessing the sustainability of fisheries catch limits negotiated by the UK for 2024, published 10 April 2024.

As an independent coastal State, the UK sets total allowable catches (TACs) each year for many fish stocks through negotiations with other coastal States. UK positions in those negotiations are informed by the best available scientific advice, including advice from the International Council for the Exploration of the Sea (ICES) on achieving the maximum sustainable yield (MSY) for many stocks. The Centre for Environment, Fisheries and Aquaculture Science (Cefas) conducts annually a robust assessment of the sustainability outcomes of our negotiations, including the number of TACs which have been set in line with the scientific advice.

In those negotiations, the UK seeks to balance the fisheries objectives set out in the Fisheries Act 2020 and the Joint Fisheries Statement. We strive for outcomes that achieve greater environmental sustainability, including aiming to increase over the medium term the total number of stocks fished at MSY.

Defra will publish in early 2025 the Cefas assessment of the sustainability outcomes of the TACs negotiated by the UK this autumn.