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

To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to promote a regional fisheries agreement for the South Atlantic.

The UK government is concerned about gaps in international fisheries governance in areas of our ocean and fish stocks not covered by Regional Fisheries Management Organisations (RFMO), including the South West Atlantic. The UK plans to raise this issue for discussion in a variety of international forums this year, including the Resumed Review Conference on the UN Fish Stocks Agreement. Establishing new agreements which would bring about more robust governance arrangements is likely to be a lengthy process. As a first step, and more immediate solution, we will be encouraging distant water fishing nations and coastal States to share scientific data in areas where there is no RFMO.