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 ensure that fishing quotas are distributed in ways that incentivise (a) lower impact and (b) selective fishing.

There are a number of mechanisms in place to incentivise lower impact and selective fishing. In terms of quota distribution, in England we have been running a trial since 2024 called the Quota Application Mechanism, which allocates quota based on environmental, social and economic criteria. As part of this, with the support of scientists, we have developed a gear ranking system to incentivise selective fishing.