Ban super trawlers from fishing in UK waters.

Margiris, the second largest trawler in the world, was spotted off the coast of the Isle of Wight at the end of September.

The UK Government should work internationally to ban these trawlers and remove them from UK waters.

Weighing close to 9,500 tonnes, the mammoth commercial fishing vessel is designed to operate fishing trawls, which involves pulling a fishing net through a large body of water. It is thought to process 250 tonnes of fish a day.

Heavily regulated in some nations, trawling is widely criticised for its lack of selectivity, and the physical damage the trawl inflicts on the seabed. Australia has banned Margiris from operating in its waters.

The Government currently has no immediate plans to seek to ban super trawlers from UK waters. The UK is a global leader in the fight to protect our seas, with our ‘Blue Belt’ of protected waters, nearly twice the size of England. The Government is currently considering the recommendations of the Benyon Review into Highly Protected Marine Areas (areas of the sea that allow the protection and recovery of marine ecosystems).

The Common Fisheries Policy (CFP) has restricted our ability to implement fisheries management measures within offshore Marine Protected Areas. The Fisheries Bill proposes a new power to allow the introduction of measures for conservation purposes.

We will automatically take back control of our waters, ending the right of other countries to fish in them at the end of 2020 when the transition period ends, and the UK formally leaves the CFP. For the first time in 40 years, we will be free to decide who can access our waters to fish and on what terms. Any access by non-UK vessels to fish in UK waters will be through a UK issued license.

Leaving the CFP gives us the opportunity to introduce a sustainable, responsive and resilient new fisheries policy. We will consider the sustainability of our stocks and our precious marine environment to take the steps necessary to allow them and our fishing industry, to flourish. As set out in the EU Withdrawal Agreement, during the Transition Period, we have agreed that we will continue to apply current fisheries rules and shared access to waters until the end of 2020.

The MMO continues to work hard to monitor fishing activity in English waters – with dedicated enforcement and surveillance work to protect fisheries, including offshore patrol vessels for at-sea surveillance. Not all fishing activities in marine protected areas require management – just those that are likely to damage the features of a site, typically such as trawling on the seabed.

The Fisheries Bill currently going through Parliament will help to protect our marine resources and develop plans to restore our fish stock back to more sustainable levels. This builds on a manifesto commitment which promised to introduce a legal commitment to fish sustainably as we become an independent coastal state once again. The Bill strengthens the MMO’s powers in a variety of areas, including ensuring that they can restore and enhance, as well as conserve, the marine environment in the offshore zone, and to continue to support the delivery of the Government’s Blue Belt Programme.

The Fisheries Bill prohibits any commercial fishing vessel (including foreign-registered vessels) from operating in UK waters without a licence. It also provides powers to attach conditions (such as the areas that can be fished, species that can be caught and the type of fishing gear that can be used) to fishing vessel licences. Foreign vessels operating in UK waters will have to follow UK rules, including the conditions that are attached to their commercial fishing licence.

Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

This is a revised response. The Petitions Committee requested a response which more directly addressed the request of the petition. You can find the original response towards the bottom of the petition page (https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/276308)