Greener UK – The House of Lords A ‘frame without a picture’: Peers scrutinise the Fisheries Bill

Parliamentarians took their first opportunity to scrutinise the new version of the Fisheries Bill during the Lords second reading debate on 11 February. While most speakers agreed with our assessment that the bill offers much more than the previous version when it comes to sustainability, many concurred with Lord Hannay when saying the bill was a ‘frame without a picture’- i.e. light on detail and heavy on executive discretion.

Many peers also spoke to the environmental elements of the bill: Baroness Young of Old Scone criticised the bill for not having time-bound targets for stock recovery for overfished species, and Baroness Bakewell of Hardington Mandeville warned of the risks of balancing necessary conservation measures with industrial growth. We look forwards to working with parliamentarians, civil servants and other stakeholders to progress the priorities set out in our second reading briefing during Lords committee stage next week.

Marine Conservation Society    The new UK Fisheries Bill: learning from past mistakes or set to repeat them?

MCS Fisheries Policy Expert, Debbie Crockard, looks at the new Fisheries Bill and its potential to help end overfishing in UK waters.

The thing about good legislation is that it is only as good as its implementation. A case in point is the Common Fisheries Policy (CFP)- the EU fisheries legislation we will soon be leaving. It is, in general, a good piece of legislation, its weakness lies in the fact that it has never been properly implemented, controlled or managed and that the deadlines included for sustainable fisheries haven’t been met.

Looking forward, the UK now has the opportunity to learn from these mistakes. The new Fisheries Bill has the opportunity to close loopholes which would allow overfishing, habitat damage and unfair distribution of fishing opportunities to be addressed. The big question is, will it do that? 

Bycatch objectives – Data gaps – Joint fisheries statements – Griffin Carpenter NEF

The “Discards objective” is now the “Bycatch objective” and the text has been changed a bit.

There’s a lot of text on the Joint Fisheries Statement (JFS) & fisheries management plans. These plans (new to the bill) legislate a duty to comply with the JFS. This paragraph on science could be important. There was a real awakening during bill review on data gaps.