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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, if he will review the proposed reduction in the sole fishery in the Western Channel.

There is no reduction in the International Council of the Exploration of the Seas (ICES) advice for Western Channel (7e) sole, from 2024 to 2025. For the 2024 fishing year, the ICES advice was 1057t, for the 2025 fishing year it is 1151t. This is an 8.9% increase.

In terms of the Total Allowable Catch (TAC) which was set for 2024, although ICES advised a 24% cut, the UK and EU agreed a smaller (15%) reduction, in order to mitigate the short-term economic risks potentially consequent of a such a cut.