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

To ask Her Majesty's Government what steps they intend to take to ensure good terms for UK fishermen at the end of the EU withdrawal transition period.

At the end of the transition period, the UK will be an independent coastal state with rights under the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea to control and manage the resources in our waters.

On 27 February 2020, the Government published the UK’s approach to the future relationship with the EU. The Government is ready to consider an agreement on fisheries that reflects the fact that the UK will be an independent coastal state at the end of 2020. However, any such framework agreement should set out the scope and process for annual negotiations on access to the parties’ exclusive economic zones and fishing opportunities. Fishing opportunities should be negotiated annually based on the best available science for shared stocks provided by the International Council for Exploration of the Seas. The UK will not accept the Common Fisheries Policy’s ‘relative stability’ mechanism for sharing fishing quotas, which is outdated and based on historical fishing activity from the 1970s. Future fishing opportunities should be based on the principle of zonal attachment, which better reflects where the fish live.

Negotiations with the EU commenced on 2 March. The Government is committed to securing good terms for fishers in the whole of the UK.