MCS  Clara Johnstone    …        ‘However, it seems this opportunity is being wasted. When reading the latest version of the new Fisheries Bill I got an awful sense of déjà vu. Whilst many of the objectives relating to sustainability look good on paper, they mostly follow the same tone and offer the same commitments we have seen in the past, yet have not been fulfilled. Therefore, in their current form, the likelihood of them actually achieving the significant and urgent change that is needed is, sadly, minimal.

You can’t expect the same approach to produce different results. To add further insult to injury, the government also chose to remove a clause that required fisheries management decisions to be environmentally sustainable in both the short and long term, and made sustainability the primary objective of the bill. Not only does this make me question their frequent promise to prioritize sustainability – such as in the 2018 fisheries white paper and 25 year Environment Plan – it once again provides the opportunity for the environment to lose out against competing priorities – we simply cannot afford to let this happen anymore. Click here to read more