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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what the annually-negotiated cod quota tonnage was for UK fishing vessels in Norwegian waters for each year since 2016; and what proportion of that quota was allocated to Scottish-registered vessels.

The cod quotas available to UK fishing vessels in Norwegian waters fall in two categories: first, quotas in the North Sea (or ICES Areas 4), and second, quotas in the Norwegian Exclusive Economic Zone & the Fisheries Protection Zone around Svalbard (relevant waters of ICES Areas 1, 2a and 2b). It is important to note that cod quotas can vary significantly from one year to the next, depending on fluctuations in the biological health of the stock.

Table 1 sets out the total North Sea cod quota available to the UK since 2016. In practice, the UK has been able to fish up to 100% of that quota in Norwegian waters, with the exception of 2021, when the UK had no access to Norwegian waters to fish that stock.

Table 1:

Table 2 sets out the total cod quota available to the UK in the Norwegian Exclusive Economic Zone & the Fisheries Protection Zone around Svalbard since 2016. By definition, all of that quota must be fished in Norwegian waters.

Table 2:

Scottish Producer Organisations hold approximately 65% of the Fixed Quota Allocation (FQA) units for the quota in Table 1, and no FQA units for the quota in Table 2.