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

To ask Her Majesty's Government what are the current discard rates for the major fisheries in the UK; and what assessment they have made of the impact on these discard rates of any changes in the level of total allowable catches after Brexit.

Comprehensive data on the discard rates across different EU fisheries, including fisheries of major interest to the United Kingdom, were published in 2014 by the Scheveningen (North Sea) and North Western Waters regional groups of EU Member States, in the ‘Discard Atlas of North Sea Fisheries’ and the ‘Discard Atlas of the North Western Waters Demersal Fisheries’, respectively. The reports are available at the links below:

http://www.nsrac.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/11/discardatlas_northsea_demersalfisheries_2014.pdf

http://www.nwwac.org/_fileupload/CEFAS_Discard%20Atlas%20of%20the%20North%20WesternWaters%20Demersal%20Fisheries_15_12_2014_FINAL.pdf

From 1 January 2019 all EU fisheries for species subject to catch limits will be covered by the EU landing obligation. Total Allowable Catches (TACs) for 2019 and beyond will be based on catch advice from the International Council for the Exploration of the Sea (ICES), which will reflect the fact that species subject to the landing obligation will no longer be discarded.

The UK Government remains fully committed to sustainable fisheries management which will continue when we leave the EU, with TACs set in line with the science and ending the wasteful practice of discarding.