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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, pursuant to the answer of 17 September 2024 to Question 4722 on Fisheries, if he will make an assessment of the potential merits of (a) adopting and (b) implementing the Global Charter for Fisheries Transparency.

The UK Government welcomes the broad principles set out in the Global Charter for Fisheries Transparency and sees considerable merit in its objective of improving transparency and accountability in global fisheries governance and management.

The UK already implements many of the policies set out in the Charter. These include: requiring the use of identification numbers on fishing vessels; publishing beneficial ownership data within the People with Significant Control register; not permitting transshipment of fish at sea; and ratifying key international agreements such as the Agreement on Port State Measures, International Labour Organization (ILO) Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work and the Work in Fishing Convention (C188).

We will continue to keep under active review the steps we can take to combat illegal fishing and will continue to welcome engagement with the organisations who have produced the Charter.