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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps her Department is taking with intentional partners to (a) support sustainable fisheries and (b) protect marine biodiversity.

On sustainable fisheries, Defra is actively engaged throughout the UN system working with a range of countries to promote sustainable management and improved international governance of fisheries. We are also a member of five Regional Fisheries Management Organisations, where we again work with other members to deliver sustainable outcomes. In addition, Defra undertakes a range of direct engagement with the EU, Norway, and other Coastal States in the Northeast Atlantic, which includes a series of annual negotiations focused on determining sustainable fishing opportunities. We are also working closely with partners at the World Trade Organisation to deliver UN Sustainable Development Goal 14.6, which aims to prohibit those fisheries subsidies that contribute to overcapacity and overfishing.

On protecting the marine biodiversity, Defra is actively engaged in global action to tackle the shared challenges of biodiversity loss, climate change and pollution, through global and regional intergovernmental agreements such as the Convention on Biological Diversity. Defra and FCDO drive progress on international ocean governance by working in partnership with other countries, especially small island developing states (SIDS). UK Official Development Assistance supports action for people and nature through the Blue Planet Fund. We also work through a range of partnerships to deliver on shared objectives including the global target to effectively conserve and manage 30% of land and 30% of ocean by 2030; and to build momentum towards a sustainable ocean economy.