Reform of Domestic Fisheries Management Arrangements in England

The consultation sought views on securing a more prosperous fishing industry with sustainable fish stocks and a health marine environment in the long term, which is set out in the Defra’s Business Plan as a departmental priority.

The proposals aimed to empower fishermen to take control of their businesses, plan for the future, and make best use of their fishing opportunities.

The key elements of the proposals included:

• The ability to establish community quota models by fishermen and communities in areas that wish to safeguard a small-scale/community fleet.
• The allocation of clearer, more stable and predictable quota allocation across the whole English fleet, using the existing Fixed Quota Allocation mechanism.
• Safeguards to help retain fisheries access rights in more sustainable parts of the fleet (eg members of community quota groups) and prevent fishing rights becoming concentrated in the large scale fleet.
• Some re-alignment of fishing opportunities across the English fleet, including that associated with consistently un-fished allocations.

The consultation was aimed at the fishing industry, coastal communities, and anyone else with an interest, including members of the public.

We would like to thank all that responded to the consultation both in writing and through attending the coastal drop-in sessions held around the country.

We published the Government response to the consultation on 8 November 2011, a link to which can be found below. In the Government response, we have outlined what the next steps in the process of domestic reform will be, including the establishment of a pilot group in Ramsgate to test a more regionally based management structure.

Results from this pilot and through parallel work with the industry will be used to inform the final package of reform for the under-10m fleet in England.

• Current work being undertaken by Defra on Domestic fisheries management reform