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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps her Department is taking to improve catch accounting in English waters, including to ensure that catches of all species, including all bycatch, are accurately recorded and accounted for.

This is a devolved matter and the information provided therefore relates to England only.

The Government is taking steps to improve catch accounting for English vessels as part of its wider reforms to discards management. This includes developing an approach to catch accounting where total catches, fish landings and discards, are accounted for against quota. These measures contribute to the achievement of the Fisheries Act 2020 bycatch objective.