The UK needs to develop a long-term strategic action plan for fisheries, according to the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Fisheries.
The APPG has taken on the task of developing a National Fisheries Action Plan to create and deliver what it dubbed an “urgently needed roadmap for UK fishing and seafood”.
The plan will map the UK’s fishing and seafood industry, its value, and outline priority areas for action.
It will also set out recommendations to “address the key challenges currently facing the sector”.
Former food security and rural affairs minister Daniel Zeichner has been appointed to lead the action plan, and will work alongside the APPG chairs: Great Grimsby and Cleethorpes MP Melanie Onn, and Orkney and Shetland MP Alistair Carmichael.
“Fishing holds great potential in terms of our food system, health, economy, commitments on nature, and security as an island nation,” Zeichner said. “But there are urgent challenges facing the sector.”
He said the group would be seeking evidence from fishermen and women, processors, retailers, communities and other fisheries stakeholders to “address these challenges and ensure we can develop a whole-sector plan that can meaningfully contribute to a strategy for the sector’s future”.
Supported by The Fishmongers’ Company’s Fisheries Charitable Trust, the National Fisheries Action Plan should be published by next summer.
Its delivery will be overseen by a dedicated review board, with insights also from the APPG’s expert panel. The review board will hold its first meeting next month.
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“Over the past years the context in which the UK’s fleets and seafood businesses are operating has changed dramatically,” Carmichael said. “Fisheries today are faced with numerous challenges from spatial squeeze, new marine protection proposals, questions relating to investment, access and training for workers across the sector, and safety issues, exacerbated by concerns surrounding cuts to critical stocks, ongoing trade challenges and negotiations over quota and access.”
The group said while there had been plans for the management of UK fisheries, one for fishing more broadly has so far not been created.
The government announced a £360m fund to support the UK’s fishing industry and coastal communities this October, but it received significant backlash from devolved national governments.
The Scottish government and Northern Ireland executive criticised the decision to earmark more than £300m for England and leave them, as well as Wales, in receipt of a combined £56m.
“We have been calling for a national strategy for fishing for quite some time. In the last 12 months, that need has become even more pressing,” said Mike Cohen, the chief executive of the National Federation of Fishermen’s Organisations. “We need a plan that recognises the value of our sector as a food-producing economic industry, safeguards our space at sea, protects our grounds, promotes sustainability, supports livelihoods, champions our sector, and allows us to deliver our full national benefit.”
The launch of the strategy was also welcomed by other key fishing stakeholder groups includin the Marine Stewardship Council and Scottish Fishermen’s Federation.
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