Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA) for Pelagic Fisheries Management Plans

1. Introduction

Fisheries Management Plans – context and background

Marine fish stocks are a public resource, a valuable natural asset and important components of marine ecosystems. Managing fishing activity so that we harvest our stocks within sustainable limits will ensure our fishing communities, the seafood supply chain and wider society continue to benefit from our natural assets, now and into the future.

The Joint Fisheries Statement (JFS) as amended, as required by the Fisheries Act 2020, sets out how the UK fisheries authorities (the Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs in Northern Ireland, Defra, Scottish Government, and Welsh Government) will prepare and publish 43 Fisheries Management Plans (FMPs) by 2028, to manage fishing activity so the harvesting of fish stocks remains within sustainable levels. The Scottish Government is the coordinating authority for 21 FMPs with a delivery date of end of 2026. Of the 21 FMPs, 8 are for Pelagic stocks.

Sustainable fisheries protect stocks and the wider environment whilst delivering social and economic benefits for present and future generations. Delivering sustainable fisheries will involve balancing the environmental, social and economic aspects of fisheries. Both the short-term and the long-term impacts of decisions to manage fishing activity to protect stocks, the marine environment and on the fishing industry will be considered. Any short-term decisions to favour social or economic benefit should not significantly compromise the long-term health of the stocks and marine environment that underpin these societal and cultural benefits of fishing. These decisions should recognise the cultural importance of fishing through maintaining and, where possible, strengthening coastal communities and livelihoods alongside the requirement for fish stocks to reach and maintain sustainable levels.

UK fisheries policy authorities identified 43 FMPs in the JFS. A timetable for the preparation and publication of the FMPs can be found in Annex A of the JFS and summarised on Gov.UK: see the List of FMPsthe List of FMPs. Following consultation, an updated version of Annex A of the JFS was published in December 2024, introducing changes to the publication dates and technical details of several FMPs.

All FMPs must contain the information set out in section 6 of the Fisheries Act 2020. In summary, an FMP must specify: the relevant authority; stock or stocks, type of fishing, and geographical area to which the plan relates; the status of the stocks; policies and actions to maintain or restore, or contribute to maintaining or restoring, stocks at sustainable limits, or to maintain or increase levels of stock; and the indicators to be used to monitor the effectiveness of the plan.

FMPs must specify whether there is sufficient evidence to enable relevant authorities to assess a stock’s Maximum Sustainable Yield (MSY). Where there is insufficient evidence, the FMP must specify policies for maintaining or increasing levels of the stock, and the steps (if any) that the relevant authority or authorities propose to take to obtain the scientific evidence necessary to enable an assessment of a stock’s MSY. If no steps are proposed, the FMP will explain the reasons for that, and how the precautionary approach to fisheries management will be applied so fish are harvested within sustainable limits.

Through managing fishing activity within sustainable limits, FMPs will contribute to the fisheries objectives set out in section 1 of the Fisheries Act 2020. The scope of an FMP may be extended to consider wider fisheries management issues related to environmental, social or economic matters. How FMPs consider wider fisheries management issues will be determined at the individual FMP level, appropriate to the stock(s), fishery and geographic area within the remit of the FMP.

The Fisheries Act 2020 requires the FMPs to be reported on every three years, as part of the statutory report on the JFS. FMP are also to be reviewed at least every six years. FMPs will evolve as our understanding and evidence base develops through their implementation. Some FMPs will progressively address a wider range of fisheries management issues as they evolve through an iterative approach over time.

FMPs will contain a range of policies and actions whose detail will vary depending on the evidence available to support their implementation. Some policies and actions may only indicate future action and will develop over time as the plan’s evidence progresses through each iteration.

FMPs will adopt an ecosystem-based approach to fisheries management to help deliver environmental, social and economic benefits beyond those accrued from just achieving the sustainable harvesting of stocks.

The policies and actions proposed by an FMP will apply to all vessels (UK and non-UK vessels) fishing relevant stocks in the area covered by the plan.

Delivering Sustainable Management of Fisheries and FMPs

Fisheries rely on the ecosystems in which they operate to support healthy stocks. These ecosystems can be compromised by human-induced pressures, including pollution, marine litter and unsustainable exploitation of marine resources. This pressure includes the impact of fish population levels on the processes and functioning of the wider ecosystem; for example, the removal of prey species impacts the status of top predators.

Long term, sustainable, and profitable fisheries require active management to avoid, reduce or mitigate any adverse impacts of fishing activity on ecosystem functioning, ecosystem resilience, or environmental threats such as climate change.

Available fishery data and advice will help determine the targets and catch limits applied to each stock. Where possible, these limits would include the MSY for data-rich stocks where biomass fluctuations can be tracked. Alternative proxies for harvest limits, the precautionary approach, or a combination of both are required for more data-limited stocks, where it is only possible to detect biomass fluctuations.

Not all stocks currently have sufficient evidence to establish MSY, or proxy, reference points and limits. It is not scientifically feasible or economically viable to collect such evidence for some species. In these cases, FMPs must include the steps, or reasons for not taking steps, national fisheries authorities will take to ensure stocks are harvested within sustainable limits.

FMPs will recognise the importance of the sustainable use and conservation of our marine natural assets and the ecosystem services they provide when setting out policies to manage fishing activity. FMPs will make use of the best available scientific advice, be subject to scientific evaluation, and consider the environmental risks associated with the fishing activity. The plans will use a risk-based approach to identifying appropriate and proportionate mitigation for its environmental impact.

FMPs will contribute to achieving Good Environmental Status (GES) under the UK Marine Strategy (UK MS). In addition to improving or maintaining the status of commercial stocks, plans can include actions focused on reducing the risks and/or pressures from fishing activity to other ecosystem components that may prevent achieving GES.

Managing fishing activity within sustainable limits through FMPs will directly contribute to securing the continued availability of seafood products as an important food source within the UK food supply chain.

Scope of the FMP

The stocks and areas covered by the Pelagic FMPs are summarised in Table 1 of Annex 1. The draft Pelagic FMPs apply to fisheries for the following five species:

• mackerel (Scomber scombrus)
• herring (Clupea harengus)
• blue whiting (Micromesistius poutassou).

The draft Pelagic FMPs will apply to all areas in Scottish waters^[1], English waters^[2], Northern Ireland waters^[3], and Welsh waters^[4] where fishing activity for the above given species takes place (fishing areas for each FMP are specified in the Annex A to the JFS). The relevant regions are summarised in Table 1 (Annex 1). A breakdown of the relevant fishing gears for each FMP is also provided in Table 1 (Annex 1).

Draft Pelagic FMPs’ Policies and Actions

The overall vision for the draft Pelagic FMPs is that these fisheries in UK waters are managed sustainably, to help ensure that stocks are maintained above biomass levels capable of producing MSY.

The policies and actions set out in the draft Pelagic FMPs suggest how this could be achieved in a way that is consistent with, and supportive of, the wider achievement of the fisheries objectives set out in the Fisheries Act 2020 (the 2020 Act), and the policies contained within the JFS.

To ensure effective management of the fisheries in UK waters, the draft Pelagic FMPs identify policies focussed on domestic and international management priorities. They were drafted to meet the requirements of policies set out in the JFS and sections 6(3)(a) or 6(3)(b) of the Fisheries Act 2020 (where appropriate).

These policies and actions may change following the public consultation. Any changes will be subject to assessment and reflected in the final Environmental Report. For each policy, the plan sets out:

• a rationale;
• ongoing, short- and longer-term actions; and
• how the actions support delivery of the fisheries objectives.

Table 2 in Annex 1 provides a summary of the policies and actions for the draft Pelagic FMPs.

The six policies for the draft Pelagic FMPs are to:

Policy 1a: Harvest [the stock] sustainably, contributing to maintaining or restoring the biomass above the level capable of producing MSY

Policy 1b: Continue to manage the WoS and Clyde herring stocks using existing tools to maintain stock levels

Policy 2a: Use the best-available scientific evidence to support management decisions relating to the setting of sustainable fishing opportunities

Policy 2b: Improve the evidence base underpinning the stock, in order to support sustainable harvesting of the WoS and Clyde herring stocks, with biomass maintained above the level capable of producing MSY

Policy 3: Monitor catches of [Pelagic FMP stocks] and ensure that where possible all catches are counted against quotas

Policy 4: Identify and support implementation of ecosystem-based fisheries management approaches appropriate for the relevant fisheries

Policy 5: Support fishing businesses to deliver socio-economic and cultural benefits for communities

Policy 6: Reduce the impact of fishing on climate change and support the fishing industry to adapt to the impacts of climate change

There is significant overlap in policies for the five pelagic FMPs, apart from policies 1 and 2 in the West Coast of Scotland and Clyde herring FMP which are different to account for the complexities around these stocks; this is intentional to ensure that there is harmonisation in management approaches and delivery as far as practicable. Area specific considerations, which do not span all five FMPs, are denoted in the individual FMPs.