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 take steps to ensure an increased quota for the UK from the Barents Sea to improve the security of domestic supplies of fish.

The UK pursues a wide range of priorities when securing quota transfers in its annual fisheries negotiations with Norway, including reducing choke risk within the North Sea mixed fishery, as well as securing fishing opportunities in the Barents Sea.

In 2022, the UK’s total opportunities for Arctic whitefish stocks were estimated to be worth around £16 million. Inward transfers of such quotas are paid for by transferring to Norway quotas held by the UK, with the result that securing additional Arctic quotas from Norway automatically leads to a reduction in quotas available to UK fishers.

The UK imports significant quantities of whitefish, reflecting UK consumers’ tastes. Whilst the volume of the quota available to the UK in the Barents Sea is not close to covering the volume of fish that we import, the Government is working with the fishing industry to identify opportunities in the UK market for UK caught fish.