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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what risks determined that all quota species should be recorded on the catch recording app for under 10m fishing vessels before the fish were landed.

It is important that we have a good understanding of the state of fish stocks especially those subject to quota restrictions and also when quotas are close to being exhausted. Catch recording prior to landing commits the master/owner of a vessel to an amount and allows this information to be subsequently cross checked with data reported by merchants. This will result in a more accurate assessment of the amount of fish being landed.

The Marine Management Organisation did consider introducing an additional requirement for the exact weight of landings to be provided through landing declarations to be submitted by fishers within 24 hours of landing. However, this requirement was removed following feedback received during consultation with industry which implied this would be too burdensome on industry.