Marine Protected Areas: Fisheries

(asked on 20th September 2022) - View Source

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, if he will make it his policy to ban (a) supertrawlers, (b) fly shooters and (c) all other types of destructive fishing in Marine Protected Areas.


Answered by
Mark Spencer Portrait
Mark Spencer
Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
This question was answered on 28th September 2022

Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) are a devolved competency and the information provided therefore relates to England only.

The Marine Management Organisation and the Inshore Fisheries and Conservation Authorities assess on a site-by-site basis which fishing activities could prevent them from achieving their conservation objectives.

'Supertrawlers' generally target pelagic species of fish within the water column and are unlikely to interact with the seabed habitats, such as reef and sediment habitats, for which most MPAs are designated. Some other types of fishing such as bottom trawling and fly-shooting interact with the seabed and are therefore likely to impact seabed habitats. The compatibility of these activities will depend on the features protected in each site. If the site assessments conclude that this type of fishing poses a risk to the conservation objectives of a MPA, the relevant regulator would implement management measures.

Regulators follow an evidence-led process to determine what management is required to protect sites and to not unduly restrict legitimate fishing activity. 98 MPAs in English inshore waters already have byelaws in place to protect sensitive features from damaging fishing activities and the first four English offshore byelaws have now been established. A Call for Evidence on byelaws in 13 more MPAs has recently closed. We aim to have protection in place for all our English offshore MPAs by 2024.

In July, we launched a consultation on five candidate Highly Protected Marine Areas (HPMAs) in English waters. With the highest level of protection in England's seas to enable the ecosystem to fully recover, many activities including commercial and recreational fishing would be prohibited. HPMAs would complement the existing MPA network. Any HPMAs that HM Government decides to designate following the consultation would be designated by July 2023.

Reticulating Splines