Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what steps he took to ensure that the foreign commercial vessels fishing in the waters of Ascension Island from 2010 to 2013 did not use slave labour.

The Ascension Island government is legally responsible for administering the marine fishery in the 200 nautical mile Exclusive Fishing Zone centred on the Island.

There as no condition placed in the licenses issued by the Ascension Island Government from 2010 to 2013 relating to slave labour. The primary responsibility for the setting and enforcement of standards on such matters lies with the flag state of each vessel.

The Ascension Island Government paused the issuing of licences for commercial long-line fishing from 1 January 2014 in order to undertake a full review of the management of its fisheries with a view to a new structure to be put in place by 2015. Revised conditions for licences will form a part of that outcome.