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

To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by the Minister of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs on 10 October 2024 (HC6250), whether it is their intention to ratify the International Maritime Organisation's 2012 Cape Town Agreement on the Safety of Fishing Vessels at the United Nations Oceans Conference in June 2025; and whether they will fully align their policies with the Global Charter for Fisheries Transparency.

The UK Government fully supports the Cape Town Agreement. It is the first global agreement on fishing safety. It provides mandatory minimum standards to safeguard fishers working at sea and deters vessel operators from engaging in Illegal, Unreported and Unregulated (IUU) fishing. The Agreement achieves this by making poor working conditions subject to detention and inspection globally.

We have worked to ensure that the UK can accede to the Cape Town Agreement. Subject to Parliamentary Scrutiny, we will instruct the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office to conclude accession. This will be as soon as possible.

The UK Government also welcomes the broad principles underpinning the Global Charter for Fisheries Transparency. We see considerable merit in its objective of improving transparency and accountability in global fisheries governance and management.

The UK has already implemented many of the policies set out in the Charter. We will continue to keep under active review the steps we can take to combat IUU fishing and will continue to welcome engagement with the organisations which have produced the Charter.