The UK fishing industry will have access to 420,000 tonnes of fishing opportunities worth up to £700 million after agreements were reached with the EU and Norway, the UK Government has announced.
This brings the total fishing opportunities secured for the UK fleet in 2024 in the main negotiating forums to 750,000 tonnes – 80,000 tonnes more than in 2023 - worth up to £970 million based on historic landing prices.
The deal with the EU has secured UK fishermen access to opportunities of 130,000 tonnes for 2024, worth up to £340 million.
The trilateral deal with the EU and Norway secures access to opportunities of 290,000 tonnes of North Sea stocks, worth around £360 million.
This is on top of 330,000 tonnes, worth around £270 million, from catch limits agreed earlier in the year on widely distributed stocks with coastal States in the northeast Atlantic.
As a result of quota share uplifts agreed in the Trade and Cooperation Agreement, the UK has up to 120,000 tonnes more quota from the 2024 negotiations than it would have received as an EU Member State.
In the fourth year of the UK operating as an independent coastal state in the negotiations, catch levels were agreed for over 80 important total allowable catches (TACs). This included key commercial stock across the industry, including northern shelf cod, North Sea saithe, and Nephrop stocks in the Celtic/Irish Sea.
Pollack
The Delegations took note of the ICES zero-catch advice for pollack
for 2024. Conscious that there are no catch scenarios that would rebuild the
stock above Blim by 2025, the Delegations have considered the non-zero catch
options provided by ICES, in order to avoid a choke effect that would lead to
the premature closure of other demersal fisheries where pollack is caught as a
bycatch.
The Parties agreed to set a bycatch TAC of 925t for 2024, in line with
the total commercial catch option (8) which would allow a 20% increase in the
spawning stock biomass (SSB) in 2025 compared to 2024.
The Parties agreed to work together in the SCF, including the possibility of
making a joint request to ICES regarding identification and quantification of
bycatch, and separately the development of a roadmap to support a future
benchmark, leading to an improved assessment of the stock.
In request, the Parties will also seek advice on potential refinements, including the
incorporation of recreational catches.
While the current advice on fishing opportunities for pollack in areas 6 and 7 for
2024 has been shown to be robust to a range of assumptions of recreational
catch levels, the Delegations acknowledged that ICES note that recreational
catches are likely to be a large component of the total catches. The Parties
therefore agreed to increase their shared understanding of recreational pollack
fishing in ICES area 6 and 7 and its impact on fishing mortality, with a view to
the development and introduction (subject to each Party’s respective internal
processes) where appropriate of proportionate, effective, and nondiscriminatory limits for recreational fishing that are likely to reduce fishing
mortality.
The Parties agreed to take
8 - ICES. 2023. EU standing request on catch scenarios for zero-TAC stocks 2023: pollack (Pollachius pollachius) in subareas 6–7 (Celtic Seas and the English Channel). Report of the ICES Advisory Committee, 2023. ICES Advice 2023, sr.2023.09f, https://doi.org/10.17895/ices.advice.24558280
Special conditions, flexibilities
a) The Parties agreed the special conditions, flexibilities and footnotes applicable to each stock, set out in Annex 1.
b) Acknowledging previous commitments by the Parties for stocks listed in Annex
1 where geographic flexibility is provided for, the Parties are committed to ensuring appropriate safeguards are in place that ensure its application meets clear management objectives - such as managing choke - and does not result in a detrimental alteration in fishing effort or in depleted bycatch stocks, including no undesired increase in fishing mortality or impediment to the recovery of the bycatch stocks.
In particular:
i. The Parties will, where appropriate, implement robust monitoring or reporting arrangements for Annex 1 stocks, where geographic flexibilities are provided for and report back via the SCF, and will work via the SCF to consider more broadly the use of geographic flexibility for Annex 1 stocks.
ii. The Parties agreed that because geographic flexibility could result in effort displacement between areas, safeguard measures may be required in order to protect depleted stocks. The Parties agreed that safeguards should be established that would limit the amount of quota that can be transferred in situations where the donor TAC is substantially larger than the recipient TAC, including the suspension of such flexibilities.
c) The Delegations exchanged data on the utilisation of inter-stock and interspecies and partially exchanged data on inter-area flexibilities. The Parties 10
agreed to continue to review, via the SCF, the relevant flexibility footnotes in Annex 1 with a view to consensual revision where considered necessary in order to avoid significant risks to sustainability. Further to paragraph 1 j) (Deepsea stocks), this would include a review of the provisions for deep sea stocks, recognising the vulnerable nature of these species. Future footnotes should also be considered where appropriate.
d) Without prejudice to the review process set out above, the Parties agreed to continue the suspension of the interspecies flexibilities for Western horse mackerel in 2024, as the stock continues to receive zero-catch advice from ICES and continues to be a by-catch stock in 2024.
e) The Parties agreed that the herring (3a) flexibility into United Kingdom waters
of Area 4, which is included in Table 4 of Annex 1, is granted for 2024. Fisheries Minister Mark Spencer said:
"These significant deals give UK fishermen access to important fish stocks worth £970 million and take advantage of our position outside the EU to independently negotiate in our fishing fleets best interest."
"They are based on the latest scientific advice and support a sustainable, profitable fishing sector for years to come while continuing to protect our marine environment and vital fishing grounds."
Sustainability has been at the heart of the UK’s approach to negotiations, pushing for decisions based on the best available science to protect key stocks and support the long-term viability of the UK fishing industry. Advice from scientists at the International Council for the Exploration of the Sea (ICES) is the starting point for the UK’s approach and, where possible, catch limits have been set at or within these advised levels.
A provisional estimate is that the same number of jointly managed stocks have been set in line with or lower than the levels advised by ICES scientists compared to last year, despite challenging advice for a number of stocks. A full and independent review of the sustainability of negotiated outcomes will be published early in the new year.
The outcome of annual fisheries negotiations will be published in the Secretary of State determination of fishing opportunities for British boats by the end of the year.
Further information
The Agreed Records for the negotiations can be seen here:
UK and EU bilateral negotiation
UK, EU and Norway trilateral negotiation
As a result of quota share uplifts agreed in the Trade and Cooperation Agreement, the UK has more quota from these negotiations than it would have received with its previous shares as an EU Member State.
Values based on full uptake of fishing opportunities.
Bilateral fisheries negotiations between the UK and Norway and those between the UK and the Faroe Islands are currently on-going.
Throughout the negotiations, the UK Government has worked closely with the Devolved Administrations to ensure the benefits of the negotiations are spread across the UK. For example, Scottish fishermen will benefit from quota for Northern shelf cod, Welsh fishermen will benefit from a rolled over access measures in bass, and fishermen from Northern Ireland will benefit from increased quota for Nephrops.
Outcome of UK/EU bilateral negotiations
This deal set catch limits of around 70 total allowable catches (TACs). The agreement also commits the UK and EU to work together to provide more sustainable fisheries management, including to review the effectiveness of existing measures to protect the recently reopened spurdog fishery.
The agreement also includes a by-catch only total allowable catch for pollack, following ICES advice published earlier this year. The government recognises the impact of this on sections of the UK fleet and has been engaging regularly with the south-west to explore potential mitigations.
Outcome of UK/EU/Norway trilateral negotiations
This deal agreed catch limits on six North Sea fish stocks including cod, haddock and herring and further stocks in other waters around the UK.