Debate on government support for the fishing industry

The UK-EU summit that took place on 19 May 2025 aimed at resetting relations between the two parties resulted in an agreement to extend mutual access to each other’s waters beyond 2026, when it was due to end, for a further 12 years. Fish exports should also benefit from changes currently under negotiation to sanitary and phytosanitary (SPS) rules, with the aim of simplifing the process for exports to the EU.

At the same time the government announced that it would be creating a £360 million Fishing and Coastal Growth Fund to fund investment in new technology and equipment, training and skills, and promote seafood exports.

The government has also recently concluded negotiations on fishing catches for shared stock for 2026 with neighbouring coastal states.

UK-EU mutual access

The 2020 UK-EU Trade and Cooperation Agreement TCA (PDF) extends to fisheries and provides mutual access for UK and EU fishing vessels in each other’s waters until June 2026. The agreement also set out provisions for negotiations on access and share of stocks after that date. These could take the form of annual or multiannual agreements on fishing.

Under the TCA, 25% of the overall pre-Brexit EU fishing quota in UK waters will have been transferred to the UK over a five-and-a-half-year transition period, ending on 30 June 2026. Mutual access for vessels to each other’s waters was also agreed under the TCA and is managed through a licencing system for individual fishing vessels.

At their joint summit in May 2025, the UK and EU agreed commitments to strengthen cooperation across a range of policy areas.

The UK-EU summit explainer from the government notes that the UK agreed to maintain existing levels of EU access to its waters for a further 12 years until 30 June 2038. The 25% stock transfer to the UK will remain and is unaffected by the agreement.

The announcement on continued EU access to UK waters was criticised by the National Federation of Fisherman’s Organisations (NFFO), particularly the decision to continue to allow access to for EU vessels in the fishing zone between 6-12 miles off the coast. On changes to SPS it was its view was that it would have limited impact on fishers as it was “unlikely that any savings from reduced export costs will be passed down to the men and women who go to sea”.

Fisheries and coastal growth fund

The government provided further details of the £360 million Fisheries and Coastal Growth Fund in October 2025. The fund will be allocated to the devolved governments who would decide how it would be spent, following discussions at the Inter-Ministerial Group for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs in June 2025. The press release announcing the allocation said that “the UK government will work in close partnership with the devolved governments to ensure the funding supports both local needs and UK-wide ambitions for a thriving, sustainable fishing industry.” The funding will be allocated on the basis of the Barnett formula, with £28 million for Scotland, £18 million for Wales, and £10 million for Northern Ireland, with the remaining allocated to England.

Following the announcement, the Scottish Cabinet Secretary for Rural Affairs, Land Reform and Islands, Mairi Gougeon, wrote to the UK Government calling the funding allocation for Scotland “wholly unacceptable”. This was because “the Scottish fishing sector accounts for over 60% of the UK’s fishing capacity and over 60% of UK seafood exports”. She also raised concern that as funding would be spread over 12 years, it would equate to only £2.3 million per year for Scotland.

The November 2025 Budget set out that £165 million would be allocated to the fund between 2026-27 and 2030-31. The response from the NFFO, as reported in Fishing News, was that while the limited frontloading of the spending was welcome it was not enough:

We have been very clear in our discussions with government that the fund will be most impactful if it is front-loaded and allows grants to be spread across multiple years. This will allow a more strategic approach to spending the fund, with projects that will bring lasting benefits, not just immediate but temporary results. An extra 10% over the first five years is hardly what we had in mind, and no one can seriously have thought that it was.

It also raised concerns that the funding could not be guaranteed beyond the end of the current Parliament.

Outcome of 2026 quota negotiations

Agreement between the UK and its neighbour states on total allowable catches for shared fishing stock (referred to as TACs) is reached in annual negotiations between the UK, the EU and other neighbouring states. This happens through a range of bilateral and multilateral meetings. The agreements on TACs are based on a number of factors including advice on the maximum sustainable yield (MSY) for each stock from the International Council for the Exploration of the Sea (ICES).

The government announced on 10 December 2025 that it had reached agreement on fishing effort for 2026 on a number of shared stocks. This includes a bilateral agreement with the EU, trilateral agreement with the EU and Norway, and agreement on some stocks with the North Sea coastal states (EU, Faroe Islands, Greenland, Iceland and Norway) while negotiation on mackerel continued.

Agreement on shared quota for mackerel stocks have been difficult to agree among coastal states in recent years. The Fisheries Minister, Angela Eagle, wrote to the Environment Food and Rural Affairs select committee on 15 December explaining that agreement on mackerel catches for 2026 had been reached between the UK and Norway, the Faroe Islands and Iceland but not the EU. The Minister also wrote that “the UK government remains fully committed to working together with all coastal States to secure a comprehensive agreement that delivers long-term sustainability for the North-East Atlantic mackerel stock”.

In response to the agreement the European Commission said it was “deeply concerned” about an agreement which it had not been consulted on and which “poses serious risks for the sustainability of the mackerel stock” and undermines EU fishing interests. This was because:

The mackerel stock in the North-East Atlantic is already in an unsustainable state due to longstanding overfishing. The International Council for the Exploration of the Sea (ICES) has issued scientific advice, recommending a total allowable catch (TAC) of no more than 174,357 tonnes for 2026. However, the 4-party arrangement sets a TAC of 299,010 tonnes, which is 72% higher than the recommended level. This excessive exploitation exacerbates the problem of overfishing and threatens the long-term sustainability of the stock.

Furthermore, since Russia's annual catch in past years exceeded 100,000 tonnes, with this arrangement the overall fishing pressure on the stock in 2026 is expected to surpass 400,000 tonnes, far above the recommended level. This level of fishing pressure poses a significant risk of irreversible damage to the mackerel population and jeopardises the livelihoods of those who depend on it.

The EU said it would be assessing the implications of the agreement, including the compatibility of the decision with international law and the UK-EU TCA. The North Atlantic Pelagic Advocacy Group (NAPA) which is a fish supply chain coalition has called for changes to the approach, highlighting that “total annual catch has been on average 40% more than scientific recommendations for the last 15 years” while “the stock has continuously declined since 2015”.

The NFFO concluded that the outcome of the negotiations was “a mixed bag with long term implications”, highlighting a significant cut to cod quota, but welcoming other increases. NAPA and marine environment campaign group Oceana have raised concerns more generally about TACs being set above scientific recommendations. Oceana published Deep Decline: State of the UK’s Fish Populations 2025, which concluded that “half of the ‘top 10’ commercial fish stocks on which UK fishers rely – including North Sea cod, North Sea herring, North East Atlantic mackerel and Southern North Sea edible crab – are in a critical condition, currently being overexploited, or both.”