Government issued warned over flagship post-Brexit fisheries law

The government has been warned that its flagship post-Brexit fishing legislation is “failing” to deliver on promises of revitalized fish stocks and thriving coastal communities.

MPs, environmentalists and coastal fishermen argue that the Fisheries Act, introduced after Britain left the EU’s fisheries policy, continues to allow overfishing and inadequately allocates quotas to support local communities.

The criticism comes after environmental charity Blue Marine Foundation lost a legal challenge. Courts have ruled that ministers have wide discretion in allocating quotas, which undermines efforts at more stringent sustainable management.

Toby Perkins, Labor MP and chair of the parliamentary Environmental Audit Committee (EAC), said: “The Fisheries Bill 2020, written by the Conservative government during Brexit, fails to deliver on the promise of ‘world-class sustainable fisheries management’.

“Instead, stocks are being allowed to be overfished: more than 50 per cent of fishing opportunities have been allocated above scientific advice this year and every year since Brexit.”

But he said: “Following scientific advice to allow fish stocks to recover in the short term will mean a more profitable fishing industry in the medium or long term.”

Mr Perkins said the case brought by Blue Marine showed that the Act could not hold ministers accountable for their decisions.

He said the Joint Fisheries Declaration, which sets out policies to achieve eight objectives in the legislation, four of which focus on sustainability, should be reviewed by law to assess whether the Act meets those objectives.

“This will be an opportunity to practice sustainable fishing, stop waste and distribute quota more equitably so that generation after generation of family fishermen do not continue to lose out to corporate industrial trawlers,” he said.

Rachel Gilmour, Liberal Democrat MP for Tiverton and Minehead, said: “There are many inherent flaws in the Fisheries Bill 2020 that undermine the positive aspects that should ensure sustainable fishing and healthy seas for the future.

“If the aims of the law were followed in practice, the fishing industry would be in a much healthier state than it is now.”

Many UK fish stocks are facing an increasingly dire situation, with scientists recommending a 77% reduction in mackerel catches and a “zero catch” for “Northern Shelf” cod caught in the North Sea, English Channel and west of Scotland.

Zero catch is also recommended for Celtic Sea cod, haddock, haddock, herring, Irish Sea cod and North Sea horse mackerel.

But quotas have repeatedly been raised above levels recommended by the EU and the UK as sustainable management is set against pressure to provide fishing opportunities for the fleet.

Since there is no sharing agreement for mackerel between North East Atlantic fishing countries, the catch has been on average 40% above scientific recommendations every year since 2010.

Charles Clover, co-founder of Blue Marine, said: “A five-year-old can tell you that if you catch too many fish this year, you won’t have as many fish left to catch next year or the year after.

“But decisions like this have been made every year since Brexit and the courts have told us they are perfectly legal under the Fisheries Act 2020.”

He called for the review of the law to be open, transparent and take evidence of what went wrong.

Quotas for most commercial species are negotiated on an annual basis between the UK, EU and Norway and allocated to fishing businesses; There is a long-standing complaint that Britain’s coastal fleet was being lost to industrial-scale fisheries when the quota was first allocated in the 1980s and 1990s.

While the Fisheries Act says quotas should be allocated based on issues such as environmental impact and the fishery’s contribution to the local community, and that selective techniques should be encouraged, lower energy use and reduced damage to habitats, there are warnings that this is not happening.

Shore fisherman Martin Yorwarth, who wrote the ska shanty Seaside Town to protest the decline of fishing towns and was once the last of 25 fishermen to fish on Canvey Island in Essex, describes fisheries management as a “farce”.

He said the industrial fishing lobby in the UK and Europe still had too much control and warned: “The Fisheries Act ‘wiggle room’ allows them to fish at unsustainable levels.

“This law is already outdated and needs to be repealed and fair fisheries management needs to be implemented.”

A Defra spokesman said: “We value the hard work and dedication of everyone working in our vital fishing industry.

“We are working with the industry through Fisheries Management Plans to ensure we are fishing sustainably, as well as investing £360 million in a new Fisheries and Coastal Growth Fund so the sector can thrive for future generations.”