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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether his Department is taking steps to (a) monitor and (b) reduce compliance costs for fisheries regulations.

Costs of compliance for regulations are assessed through Impact Assessments when regulations are introduced according to the Better Regulation Framework. Defra regulators keep all regulations under review to understand their effectiveness. We are also mindful of the desire of the fishing industry to have bespoke regulation, appropriate for the stocks and circumstances. This can add complexity and costs, something we are considering as we develop and implement Fisheries Management Plans.