The consultation runs until Monday 19 September 2022 and will focus on how the additional fishing quota should be split between the UK fisheries administrations in 2023 and beyond.

It will also seek views on the management of fishing quota in England and the Crown Dependencies, including on how quotas to allocate additional quota to industry.

The Marine Management Organisation says, “We are working with the Northern Ireland Executive, Scottish Government and Welsh Government and will share the responses to this consultation with them.”

On the consultation Defra says, “The UK is now an independent coastal state with rights and duties under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea to control and manage the resources in our waters. We have the left the EU and the common fisheries policy and, over the coming years, we will reform how we manage our fisheries. This includes the freedom to negotiate with the EU and other coastal states for a fairer share of fishing opportunities. We have previously committed to explore new methodologies for apportioning and allocating any additional quota that is negotiated by virtue of the UK’s new independent status.

“The Fisheries Act 2020 provides the legal framework for the distribution of quota and sets out the fisheries objectives we must achieve. We are working with the devolved administrations to develop the Joint Fisheries Statement. This will set out the policies for contributing to the achievement of these objectives. Alongside this, we are developing fisheries management plans to help deliver on those policies. As part of this, we want to improve how we use quota.

“In 2022, we will apportion and allocate quota using the same temporary methods we used last year. We expect this to change in future years following this consultation.

“In this consultation we set out options for future distribution of additional quota from 2023.”

Further information can be read here.