Westminster watchdog launches fisheries inquiry
4th February 2025
The Environment Food and Rural Affairs (EFRA) Committee has launched an inquiry into fisheries and the marine environment.
MPs on the committee will examine in depth the challenges facing the fishing sector, including access to labour and competing spatial pressures on the marine environment, providing a real opportunity for the industry to raise areas of concern with MPs.
The inquiry will see MPs on the committee engage with stakeholders, from working fishermen through to processors and environmental NGOs, and will include formal calls for evidence and public evidence sessions, when MPs will be able to quiz stakeholders in Westminster. It will also include visits to ports and processing establishments, engagement events and wider consultation.
The committee will produce regular reports throughout the inquiry, as well as a final report. In an inquiry of this nature, this is normally endorsed by all members of the committee, regardless of their political affiliations, making a number of formal recommendations to the government.
Topics for scrutiny will include everything from international fisheries negotiations, including the TCA, through to management of MPAs, spatial squeeze, the recruitment crisis facing both catchers and processors, and calls from NGOs to further ratchet down on the use of ‘destructive mobile fishing gears’.
The committee will also scrutinise the outcome of the autumn 2024 fisheries negotiations between the UK and its coastal partners, including the EU and Norway.
There is a Commons select committee, such as the EFRA Committee, for each government department. The committees decide on their lines of inquiry, and their findings are reported to the Commons, and published on the parliament website. The relevant department – in this case Defra – then usually has 60 days to reply to the committee’s recommendations.
Chair of the EFRA Committee, Orkney and Shetland MP Alistair Carmichael, said: “The fishing industry is rooted in the island and coastal communities that help define our country. It is at the heart of local communities and a vital part of many local economies.
“The fishing sector had hoped to see improved opportunities when the United Kingdom left the EU. In this inquiry we will examine the implementation of government fisheries policy since Brexit.
“There are also concerns among the fishing community about changes from June 2026 onwards to the UK-EU arrangements for access and catch allocations. We will consider whether the government’s current approach will deliver the best possible outcomes for UK.
“More widely, our inquiry will also examine the state of the marine environment, looking
at the protection of marine mammals and seabird species.”
The EFRA Committee is also carrying out similar but separate inquiries into supporting rural and coastal communities, weather and climate resilience, and the fairness of the food supply chain.
FN will report as the inquiry progresses, providing details of calls for evidence. Anyone wishing to provide information or evidence to the committee can email: efra.com@parliament.uk to register their interest.
This story was taken from the latest issue of Fishing News. For more up-to-date and in-depth reports on the UK and Irish commercial fishing sector, subscribe to Fishing News here or buy the latest single issue for just £3.50 here.
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