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

To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the level of unauthorised fishing that takes place in British waters.

Control and enforcement of fisheries legislation is a devolved matter. Unauthorised fishing can mean many things including fishing in closed areas, using the wrong gear or not completing records accurately.

In England, the Marine Management Organisation (MMO) assesses the level of unauthorised fishing in the 0-200 nautical mile zone using intelligence and data from at-sea patrols conducted by the Royal Navy as well as from their own enforcement activity at sea and on land. Inshore Fisheries and Conservation Authorities also carry out control and enforcement activity on land and in the 0-6 nautical mile waters of England.

The MMO publishes information about significant prosecutions and actions taken as a result of finding infringements or non-compliance with fisheries legislation on their website.

Surface patrol vessels are used to provide physical presence, deterrence and inspection capability which is complemented by satellite based surveillance technologies such as Vessel Monitoring Systems, Electronic Reporting Systems and Remote Electronic Monitoring.

The Joint Maritime Operations Coordination Centre was established in October to improve the coordination of cross-agency maritime patrol capabilities, increase information sharing across Government and enhance aerial surveillance operations.

As the control and enforcement of fisheries legislation is a devolved matter, it is for each Devolved Administration to decide how best to develop an enforcement solution to prevent unauthorised fishing.