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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what recent assessment he has made of the proportion of the UK Fishing Quota that is used by companies headquartered (a) in the UK, (b) in the EU and (c) elsewhere in the world.

UK quota is only allocated to vessels registered and licensed in the UK. This is predominantly done using Fixed Quota Allocation (FQA) units.

The FQA register contains a publicly available list of the companies and individuals who hold these FQA units. This is available on the GOV.UK website.

No assessment has been carried out regarding where these companies are headquartered.

Regardless of where their headquarters are located, all vessels to which UK quota is allocated must comply with all UK fisheries rules including the economic link condition.

The economic link ensures that the UK accrues benefit from UK quota. It requires all UK-registered vessels, including those that are foreign owned, to provide genuine economic benefits to those communities in the UK that are dependent on fisheries and fisheries related industries.