Written questions by Gardiner.

Food and Rural Affairs, pursuant to the Answer of 10 December 2024 to Question 17500 on Marine Protected Areas: Fisheries, for what reason he was not able to provide a timescale.

The Department has not yet been able to provide a timescale for these measures due to the need to follow due process and consider how we can best meet the Government’s priorities. The Government recognises the need for action to protect and restore our marine environment, while supporting a sustainable fishing industry.

Food and Rural Affairs, what his priorities are for the 68th Global Environment Facility Council Meeting in relation to target (a) 5 and (b) 18 of the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework.

The 68th Global Environment Facility Council meeting will discuss a programme of work to fund projects that will deliver environmental benefits, including contributing to achieving the targets of the Global Biodiversity Framework. The UK’s priorities will be to support improved access to GEF finance for recipient countries. The 3rd Council meeting for the Global Biodiversity Framework Fund (GBFF) will discuss the programming of the GBFF in its first year of operation. The UK will reconfirm the additional pledge of £45 million to the GBFF made at CBD COP16.

Food and Rural Affairs, if he will make a an assessment of the effectiveness of the distribution of quota between (a) foreign and (b) domestic-owned trawlers under ten metres in the UK inshore fleet.

The Secretary of State determination of fishing opportunities for British fishing boats sets UK fishing quotas. This quota is only allocated to British-registered and licensed vessels. These vessels must comply with the economic link licence condition. This requires a certain amount of fish to be landed into the UK or requires the employment of UK crew or other measures which ensure that the UK benefits economically from the quota. In recent years, quota available to the under 10 metre fleet in England has significantly increased but remains underutilised. To boost catches by the non-sector, quota licence caps have temporarily been removed, and trials exploring different quota allocation methods have been introduced.

Food and Rural Affairs, how many vessels are taking part in the early adopter phase of the remote electronic monitoring rollout by having cameras installed; and what steps he is taking to increase the number of vessels taking part.

There is one early adopter vessel volunteering to take part in the first fishery, over-24 metre pelagic trawlers in all English waters. Further vessels will be recruited for implementation in other fisheries.

Food and Rural Affairs, when he plans to publish measures for the remaining offshore Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) under stage (a) 3 and (b) 4 of the Marine Management Organisation's offshore MPA process.

I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave to the hon. Member for Rotherham, on 16 September 2024, PQ 4529: It is essential to manage bottom trawling in our Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) appropriately due to the significant damage it can have on protected seabed habitats. The department is considering next steps in the context of our domestic and international nature conservation obligations and how we support the fishing sector. The Department is considering next steps for both stages 3 and 4 of the process.

Food and Rural Affairs, if he will publish the opening positions for each Total Allowable Catch in the (a) EU/UK bilateral and (b) EU/UK/Norway trilateral negotiations.

Due to the nature of the negotiations, it is not appropriate to publicly disclose negotiating documents detailing the UK’s opening positions. Our bilateral negotiations with the EU and our trilateral negotiations with the EU and Norway have both concluded. The written record of the bilateral and agreed record of the trilateral negotiations, including final total allowable catch limits are available on GOV.UK.

Food and Rural Affairs, if he will (a) take steps to review the operation of the landing obligation and (b) publish the number of enforcement actions taken against vessels that have failed to comply with the landing obligation in the last three years.

This is a devolved matter and the information provided therefore relates to England only a) Defra has been reviewing the operation of the landing obligation as part of wider reforms to discards management in England. In 2025, these reforms will include trialling changes to how we account for catches and the establishment of a discard reduction scheme to encourage more selective fishing practices. b) In the last 3 years, the Marine Management Organisation (MMO) has recorded 32 instances of non-compliance with the landing obligation. Following the MMO Compliance and Enforcement Strategy, 23 instances were addressed by verbal advice, 2 were addressed by advisory letters and 3 were addressed by official written warning to master and owner. The remaining 4 are under investigation with decision pending. No instances have resulted in court action during this period.