Three Asks for the Ocean

THREE ASKS FOR THE OCEAN

The UK is recognised as a leader in international ocean conservation.

But the UK’s leadership in protecting the seas surrounding its Overseas Territories is not matched by ambition at home in Britain, where effective marine protections remain weak and overfishing is still allowed. The new UK parliament and government need to make significant progress in the protection of our domestic seas if we are to see a recovery for both marine life and local inshore British fisheries. The new government needs to focus on the following three actions:

1. Ban bottom trawling in marine protected areas.

• Bottom trawling takes place in the majority of English offshore marine protected areas (MPAs). Bottom-towed fishing gear should be banned in all MPAs designated to protect the seabed.    

• Establishing marine protected areas (MPAs) allows ecosystems to recover. MPAs provide safe havens for marine life, including endangered species. Eight in ten British adults think a destructive industrial fishing method should be banned in marine protected areas (MPAs), a poll suggests. 

• UK offshore MPAs were subjected to more than 33,000 hours of suspected bottom trawling in 2023, according to an analysis of satellite tracks by Oceana published earlier this year – equivalent to nearly four years of continuous trawling. 

• Bottom trawling rips up marine species and damages the seabed itself, a process that releases huge quantities of carbon into the water column and the atmosphere – imparing the sea’s ability to combat climate change.  

2. End overfishing by bringing fishing catch limits within scientific advice.

• In 2024, only 46 per cent of catch limits are set at sustainable levels. 

• This new government has the opportunity to end overfishing by setting catch limits according to scientific advice and introducing measures to protect all fish species.   

• Overfishing depletes fish stocks and disrupts ecosystems. Sustainable catch limits ensure that fish populations can reproduce and maintain healthy numbers. 

• Some commercially important stocks, including populations of cod, whiting and pollock are now so depleted that scientists advise their catch limit should be zero. 

3. End social inequality by reforming how quota is allocated in UK fishing.

• Just 26 vessels own 94 per cent of the UK´s mackerel quota, 93 per cent of the herring quota and 97 per cent of the blue whiting quota. As of January 2024, there were 4,896 fishing vessels registered in the UK. This means that only a few big companies profit from this fishery, while the rest of the fishers are excluded.  

• In the UK, ultimately just four companies own 47 per cent of the mackerel quota.   

• Small-scale fishers only have the means to fish inshore, but big-scale fishers can fish offshore and have a bigger catch. Small scale fishers are granted permits to catch fish that is no longer there. Allocating this type of permission doesn´t help their situation.  

• Over two thirds of the UK’s fishing quotas are controlled by 25 companies. Thirteen UK companies hold 60 per cent of the fish quota.  

Contact your MP and let them know you want them to pledge these three actions. Enter your postcode to contact your MP.