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 make an assessment of the (a) adequacy of regulations on the fishing of bass by charter boats which are also commercially-registered fishing vessels and (b) potential merits of introducing measures to enable such vessels to allocate caught fish to quotas for either (i) charter boats or (ii) commercially-registered fishing vessels.

The Bass Fisheries Management Plan published in December 2023 sets out a number goals and measures to deliver long-term sustainable management of bass fisheries in English and Welsh waters. This includes working with the newly established bass management group, comprising commercial and recreational sectors, scientists, regulators, policy officials and environmental interests. This group will help (a) improve communication and understanding of bass regulations, and collaboration between regulators on targeted enforcement; and (b) in the longer term consider the merits of a move away from bycatch limits towards a catch limit or quota approach. The bass management group will consider the adequacy of regulations for all bass fishermen, including charter boats, in these discussions.