Defra has rejected proposals for a ‘Sea Use Framework’, infuriating MPs on the Commons Efra committee and industry.
The policy had been proposed as part of the committee’s ‘Resetting the Relationship with Fish Communities’ report (a marine counterpart to the government’s Land Use Framework), created in collaboration with all sea users.
But the department, now led by Angela Eagle following Andy Burnham’s appointment as prime minister this week, argued a framework was “effectively already in place” through existing marine plans, national policy statements and the Marine Spatial Prioritisation programme.
It also pointed to the Crown Estate’s Marine Delivery Routemap, which the government said “dynamically models and maps potential use scenarios for the seabed to help with planning and deliver policy”.
However, Efra committee chair Alistair Carmichael maintained an overarching Sea Use Framework was still needed.
“Our evidence session with Seafish, the Marine Management Organisation and the Crown Estate highlighted how access to the coastline appears to be decided without transparency and at the expense of fishing,” he said, adding the seafood sector currently held Defra in “exceptionally poor regard”.
“A framework would bring much-needed light, co-ordination and accountability and give fishers a seat at the table they deserve.”
National Federation of Fishermen’s Organisations chief executive Mike Cohen said the government’s response failed to acknowledge the “ongoing lack of a strategic response to the many different pressures on the marine environment”.
“It diminishes the significant role it plays in enabling the expansion of offshore wind and associated infrastructure in the sea and on the seabed, as well as the ‘double displacement’ effect its compensatory Marine Protected Areas policy will have on fishermen in favour of offshore developers whose activities are damaging our seas,” he said.
Cohen added: “We urge Defra to work harder to make the case for the fishing industry to the Crown Estate … and to stand firmer to EU demands to influence UK fisheries management.”
The rejection of the Sea Use Framework was not the only riposte to the committee’s report, however, with the government further dismissing recommendations for its £360m Fish and Coastal Growth Fund (FCGF) and arguments for a network of Fisheries Management Forums.
Additionally, Whitehall said the committee’s reflections on the government’s engagement with the fishing sector “paints an unduly negative picture of the state of relations” and “overlooks the depth and breadth of our engagement”.
However, it did respond positively to the committee’s recommendation that the Marine Management Organisation should resume publishing inspection and enforcement data, along with that for the previous three years.
Carmichael said the overall response lacked “genuine engagement with our report and reads like a face-saving exercise”.
“Officials should instead be facing outwards to the fishing communities who were rocked by this government inking its 12-year reciprocal access deal with the EU,” he said. “Defra needs to listen to them, and show contrition, in the process of earning their trust.”
Carmichael added: “We recommended the creation of Fisheries Management Forums, with a formal role in shaping policy, precisely because all that engagement work by Defra appears to have washed over them.
The veteran MP also took a swipe at the Barnett formula used by the government to allocate FCGF funds, lambasting it as a case of “Whitehall brain winning over common sense”.
“It will most likely sour relations with Defra further still,” he added.
Cohen warned failures to act on the recommendations made by fishers had led to the “current poor state of relations”, though he acknowledged engagement efforts had increased.
“Extending EU vessel access in UK waters for 12 years, and the increasing influence of the EU/UK Specialised Committee on Fisheries on our domestic fisheries management are prime examples where policy regression has unsurprisingly led to relations deteriorating with the fishing sector,” he said.
“There are serious financial, ecological and sovereignty consequences of these choices by government and the fishing industry warned about them all,” Cohen added. “Defra’s FCGF is welcome, and we will continue working closely with them on this.”
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