Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how many vessels on the EU Vessel List have fished in (a) Scottish, (b) English, (c) Welsh and (d) Northern Irish waters since 1 January 2021.
According to data held by the Marine Management Organisation, 334 EU flagged fishing vessels have fished within the UK Exclusive Economic Zone since 1 January 2021. This can be broken down into the following:
Exclusive Economic Zone | Number of unique vessels |
England | 221 |
Northern Ireland | 5 |
Scotland | 89 |
Wales | 46 |
United Kingdom | 334 |
Data provided includes Vessel Monitoring System (VMS) equipped* (≥12 m) foreign flagged fishing vessels with VMS pings at fishing speeds** inside UK EEZ in 2021.
* excludes any vessels without VMS (
** fishing speeds defined as > 0 and ≤ 6 knots