The UK fishing industry will have access to 150,000 tonnes of
fishing opportunities - 15,000 tonnes more than in 2024 -
following the conclusion of annual fishing negotiations with the
EU.
The agreement is worth up to £360 million for the industry.
This follows the UK's trilateral agreement with the EU and Norway
last week, which secured UK fisheries 290,000 tonnes of fishing
opportunities in the North Sea and surrounding waters.
This is on top of 280,000 tonnes, worth around £240 million, from
catch limits agreed earlier in the year on widely distributed
stocks with coastal States in the northeast Atlantic.
In total, this brings fishing opportunities secured for the UK
fleet in 2025 in the main negotiating forums to 720,000 tonnes,
worth up to £890 million based on historic landing
prices.
From these three negotiating forums, the UK has gained up to
120,000 tonnes more quota from the 2025 annual negotiations than
it would have as an EU member state.
Fisheries Minister said:
Through these sets of negotiations this Government has agreed
deals securing quota for stocks totalling up to £890 million for
the UK fleet in 2025.
This is another example of how we are delivering on our Plan for
Change, boosting our British fishing industry by supporting the
lifeblood of many coastal communities.
The UK's approach to negotiations
Sustainability has been at the heart of the UK's approach to
negotiations, pushing for decisions based on the best available
science to protect key stocks and support the long-term viability
of the UK fishing industry.
Advice from scientists at the International Council for the
Exploration of the Sea (ICES) is the starting point for the UK's
approach and, where possible, catch limits have been set at or
within these advised levels. Economic and social
considerations are appropriately balanced alongside this
scientific advice.
The outcome of annual fisheries negotiations will be published in
the Secretary of State determination of fishing opportunities for
British boats by the end of the year.
Throughout the negotiations, the UK Government has worked closely
with the devolved governments to ensure the benefits of the
negotiations are spread across the UK.
The UK fishing industry will benefit from:
- Increased anglerfish quota;
- the continuation of the plaice 7de swap with the EU that
allows for other target fisheries to continue where plaice is
caught as a bycatch;
- an increase within scientific advice of some catch limits for
seabass; and
- securing the continuation of the Irish sea herring fishery.
In other international fisheries negotiations this winter the UK
has:
- led conservation and management measures on porbeagle and
Rockall haddock in the North-East Atlantic Fisheries
Commission, both being adopted by consensus;
- secured endorsement of our proposal for a retention ban of
vulnerable mobulid rays and additional time next year for ongoing
negotiations on bluefin tuna allocations in at the International
Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tuna;
- successfully strengthened commitments on several aspects of
fisheries management in the UN's Resolution on Sustainable
Fisheries, including pushing for progress in combating harmful
subsidies at the WTO, highlighting the importance of transparency
in fisheries management, maintaining ambition for the plastics
treaty, and emphasising the importance of the precautionary
approach; and
- played a key role in securing a Recommendation on Eliminating
Government Support to Illegal, Unreported, and Unregulated
Fishing, within the OECD's Fisheries Committee.
Notes to editors
Values based on full uptake of fishing opportunities and
provisional 2023 landing prices. All figures are rounded and may
change slightly once a full analysis has been completed.
Bilateral fisheries negotiations between the UK and the Faroe
Islands, and the UK and Norway are currently on-going.
The Agreed Records for the negotiations can be found on
gov.uk:
Outcome of UK/EU bilateral
negotiations
This deal set catch limits of around 70 total allowable catches
(TACs), monitoring arrangement for non-quota stocks as well as
other arrangements on seabass and albacore. The agreement also
commits the UK and EU to work together to provide more
sustainable fisheries management, including
For non-quota stocks (NQS), the UK and the EU agreed a roll-over
of access arrangements for 2025 to ensure continued access to
fish NQS in EU waters. UK fleet landings for these stocks are
historically worth around £30 million a year. We also agreed to
roll-over existing joint management measures and increase within
ICES advice some catch limits for seabass, and a roll-over of
access arrangements for spurdog in the North Sea and albacore
tuna.
The speed with which the negotiations concluded this year is a
sign of the effective implementation of the TCA since 2020, which
has built on collaborative efforts through the SCF.
Outcome of UK/EU/Norway trilateral
negotiations
This deal agreed catch limits on six North Sea fish stocks
including cod, haddock and herring and further stocks in other
waters around the UK.
Read the relevant announcement on gov.uk
