Proposed North Sea and Eastern Channel Whiting Fisheries Management Plan

Fisheries management

Management strategy for whiting

In the JFS, the UK fisheries policy authorities lay out a shared ambition to deliver ‘world class, sustainable management of our sea fisheries and aquaculture across the UK, and to play our part in supporting delivery of this globally’. The JFS also states that ‘As part of being an independent coastal State, the fisheries policy authorities will work together to support a vibrant, profitable, and sustainable fishing and aquaculture sector supported by a healthy marine environment that is resilient to climate change’. These ambitions are managed in line with numerous domestic and international policy drivers, which oblige action to consider and mitigate for the wider adverse environmental impacts of fishing activity.

In UK waters fisheries are managed in line with UK fisheries legislation (such as the 2020 Act, UK and devolved administration secondary legislation) and licence conditions where appropriate.

North Sea and Eastern Channel whiting (in ICES area 4 and Division 7.d) is a stock covered by the North Sea Multi Annual Plan (MAP) (EUR 2018/973).^[10] It contains measures to restore and maintain fish stocks above levels capable of producing MSY, and requirements relating to the determination of fishing opportunities, implementation of the landing obligation and engagement with third countries to ensure the relevant stocks are managed in a sustainable manner in line with the MAP objectives.

The management of the North Sea and Eastern Channel whiting fishery in the UK is carried out within this overarching context.

Whiting is a jointly managed stock with other Coastal States. Quota opportunities for the Celtic Sea TAC area (WHG/7X7A) (which includes area 7.d) are determined within the UK and EU bilateral, which in turn feeds into the North Sea TAC area (WHI/2AC4) trilateral negotiations between the UK, Norway and EU.

The approach to Coastal States negotiations is set out in the FMP supporting documentation and follows the principles stated in the JFS.

Following the conclusion of annual negotiations with other Coastal States, the UK’s share of the Total Allowable Catches is then determined as fishing opportunities for British boats by the Secretary of State and published in a document under section 23 of the 2020 Act.^[11] Following this, the UK’s quota is apportioned between the four UK Fisheries Administrations in line with the UK Quota Management Rules.^[12] Each UK Fisheries Administration may then allocate its share of apportioned quota to vessels/licences under their administration, ensuring that it meets the obligations of Section 25 of the 2020 Act. Following allocation, all quotas are adaptable, for example, they may be transferred between the management groups which represent UK fishing vessels, or exchanged with the EU.

Coastal States involved in trilateral management of jointly managed stocks (including whiting) have committed to working towards Long Term Management Plan (LTMP) for these stocks.^[13] The LTMP can set a harvest control rule (HCR) for the stock in question, which, where appropriate, will build on those elements of an HCR set out within the North Sea MAP and already included in ICES advice. An HCR for a quota stock is an agreed mechanism which defines an approach to TAC setting, based on target stock assessment outputs such as fishing mortality rate (F) and SSB. It may also include additional elements such as stability mechanisms and inter-annual quota flexibilities. By modelling short to long term impacts, a combination of these options will be selected by the negotiating parties, with an aim of ensuring stock health, maximising average yield, and reducing year-on-year quota fluctuations. This provides a more stable way of managing stocks in the long term.

The UK will continue to engage with other Coastal States to work towards determining a LTMP for whiting and, once that LTMP is agreed, will follow the approach set out in that LTMP to ensure long-term sustainability of the whiting stock.

Current technical measures

All fishing activity in UK waters is managed through a range of technical measures. These technical measures were historically laid out in the form of technical conservation regulations written into the Common Fisheries Policy (CFP) legislation through various EU delegated acts, which have now been retained into UK law following the UK’s exit from the European Union and are referred to as ‘assimilated law’. Following the UK’s exit from the EU, the UK Government and devolved administrations have various powers available to them to introduce new technical measures, for example by using licence conditions, or through secondary legislation under the 2020 Act or other relevant UK laws.

Technical measures tend to apply to specific groupings of vessels, or types of fish, and as such can be very similar. This means that the technical measures in place to support sustainable exploitation of the whiting stock are likely to be very similar to those in place to manage other whitefish stocks, particularly when they are part of a mixed fishery.

Current technical measures^[14] in place to manage sustainable exploitation of the whiting stock include:

• Minimum Conservation References Size (MCRS) (which prevents targeting of undersized fish by ensuring that only fish above the MCRS can be sold for human consumption),
• Minimum mesh sizes and structure of fishing nets (which set a minimum standard intended to reduce catches of fish below the MCRS and generally make fishing operations more efficient and effective),
• The Landing Obligation^[15] which stipulates that all catches of quota species, which includes whiting, and includes all catches below MCRS must be landed and counted against quota unless exemptions apply.

Further detail regarding technical measures can be found on the UK Government’s Technical Conservation and Landing Obligation rules and regulations webpage^[16].

Despite the landing obligation being in place, there remains issues with illegal discarding of fish within the whiting fishery. Discarding figures produced by ICES show that for all vessels taking part in the North Sea and Eastern Channel whiting fishery (i.e. not limited to UK vessels and not just in UK waters), on a 5 year average between 2019-2023, out of a total catch of 14, 3654 tonnes, there was a corresponding discard tonnage of 59,595 tonnes. The discard rate ranged from 3.5% to 4.7%. These figures relate to ICES area 4 and Division 7.d (North Sea, Eastern English Channel). Discarding issues are not specific to UK vessels, and will also apply to other non-UK vessels that catch the stock (both within and outwith UK waters). Steps are being taken across the UK to address issues with discarding, and actions relating to this are included within the actions section. This includes consideration of additional technical measures which might support fishing vessels to be more selective and avoid catching fish they wish to avoid. In Scotland this is under the Future Catching Policy programme of work.

North Sea and Eastern Channel whiting is very abundant throughout the North Sea and the TAC is set generally well under the ICES advice and does not currently cause ‘choke’ issues in any prosecuting fishery. Choke refers to a situation that may occur when the quota opportunities for one stock in a mixed fishery may limit the ability of fishing vessels to maximum catches of another stock because the available quota is limited. Fisheries policy authorities take account of potential choke problems as part of the setting of quota opportunities.

Monitoring, control and enforcement

Fisheries regulations serve a range of purposes, including preventing actions which adversely impact sustainability of the marine environment. Fisheries policy authorities are focused on reducing the main risks for non-compliance with those regulations, for example relating to non or inaccurate reporting, use of illegal fishing gear and fishing in areas where activity is restricted.

Fisheries enforcement authorities (the Marine Directorate of the Scottish Government and the Marine Management Organisation – MMO – in this instance) carry out enforcement that is intelligence-led, risk-based or is required by the UK’s international obligations. Enforcement of the respective regulations, domestic and international is in line with applicable guidelines for regulators. Across the UK there are a range of assets to support this, including compliance vessels, surveillance aircraft, the UK Fisheries Monitoring Centre and Marine Enforcement Officers conducting physical and office-based inspections throughout the chain of traceability.

Fishing vessels over 12 metres are required to have fully operational satellite Vessel Monitoring Systems (VMS), and electronic logbooks, enabling authorities to remotely monitor and control fishing activity and encourage higher compliance. VMS is also being rolled out across the under 12 metre fishing fleet and will form part of the monitoring and enforcement regime for all fishing vessels once this rollout is complete. Understanding and being able to monitor and control where fishing activity is taking place is an important part of fisheries management, particularly where area restrictions are in place. Accurate and robust locational data is also crucial for informing marine planning decisions. Remote Electronic Monitoring (REM) is also being rolled out in parts of the UK and for certain fishing vessels. REM can provide a higher degree of locational data, along with the use of sensors and cameras where appropriate which enable monitoring of fishing activity and can provide a richer dataset, for example, in relation to catches and bycatches. Specific actions relating to VMS and REM are contained within the actions section below.

UK fisheries authorities apply a fishing vessel licensing regime along with control measures throughout the whole chain of traceability from catching to sale. These measures include requirements to record catch details whilst at sea, the weight of catch landed, transport and takeover documents once landed and sales notes from registered buyers. This comprehensive data set enables fisheries authorities to effectively monitor fishing activity and compliance with national and local regulations.

These measures are not specific to whiting fishing, but apply across the wider demersal fishing fleet. As a trilateral jointly managed stock it is important that this FMP reflects appropriate actions identified through the monitoring and control group.

Actions to enhance the current monitoring and enforcement approach are contained within the ‘Actions’ under policy 3.