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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, when the Government will ratify the Agreement on Port State Measures To Prevent, Deter And Eliminate Illegal, Unreported And Unregulated Fishing.

The UK Government and the European Council have reached political agreement on the text of a treaty on the withdrawal of the UK from the EU (“the Withdrawal Agreement”).

The UK is currently a Party to the Agreement on Port State Measures to Prevent, Deter and Eliminate Illegal, Unreported and Unregulated Fishing (PSMA) through its membership of the EU. In the event that the UK leaves the EU without the Withdrawal Agreement being approved and ratified, the PSMA would immediately cease to apply to the UK.

In this scenario, the UK would deposit its instrument of accession in time to ensure that the UK becomes a Contracting Party to the PSMA in its own right immediately upon its withdrawal from the EU.