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

To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the current quota for landing bluefin tuna in the light of the success of the species in UK territorial waters.

The UK Government has been actively assessing and adjusting the quota for landing eastern Atlantic bluefin tuna (BFT), reflecting the species' resurgence in UK waters. As an independent member of the International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas (ICCAT), in 2023 the UK received a quota of 65 tonnes, which was an increase from previous years. This quota was divided to support both commercial and tag and release scientific fisheries, with 39 tonnes used for a small-scale trial commercial fishery.

In 2024, the UK quota is 66 tonnes. Sixteen tonnes are being used for recreational fishing and 39 tonnes for the continued trial commercial fishery. The remaining quota is being used for commercial bycatch and tagging programmes.

Decisions on how the quota is used have been made to ensure that BFT fisheries meet our international commitments, contribute to delivering Fisheries Act 2020 objectives, and reflect stakeholder interests including both the commercial and recreational sectors. In 2023, Defra commissioned an evaluation of UK BFT fisheries. The report has been published here: Impact Evaluation of Bluefin Tuna Quota Allocation - MF0740 (defra.gov.uk). Defra is continuing to evaluate the social, economic, and environmental impacts of UK BFT fisheries in 2024.

Any changes to the future UK BFT quota will depend on whether the Total Allowable Catch (TAC) established by ICCAT increases or decreases (the next TAC will be established in 2025 for the years 2026-2028) and on the outcomes of ongoing negotiations on quota shares at ICCAT.