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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps he is taking to support the UK fishing fleet by (a) managing the sustainability of fishing stocks, (b) allocating quota levels and (c) investing in data to support the effective management of fisheries.

The Government is fully committed to the sustainable management of our seas, whilst enabling a successful UK fishing fleet. The objectives in the Fisheries Act 2021 collectively reaffirm our commitment to achieving sustainable fishing and protecting the marine environment while tailoring our approach to our unique seas. This commitment will be delivered through the Joint Fisheries Statement and Fisheries Management Plans.

We set out policy how additional quota would be allocated in March. This is now included in the UK Quota Management Rules for 2021. Quota allocations have taken place and are available on gov.uk here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/fishing-quota-allocations-for-2021-for-england-and-the-uk

The UK has been a strong advocate for the sustainable management of fisheries and will continue to collect data to support this. The regulations that enable us to collect data have been rolled over into UK law and funding has been maintained in line with manifesto commitments. This ensures continuity and consistency of data collection in the short-term. We have now commenced work on developing a new fisheries' monitoring programme that supports UK priorities as well as our international commitments.