ClientEarth Response to Defra’s consultation on the proposed Southern North Sea and Eastern Channel Mixed Flatfish Fisheries Management Plan (FMP)

ClientEarth's response to the Southern North Sea and Eastern Channel Mixed Flatfish Fisheries Management Plan (FMP), one of 43 FMPs proposed around the UK, put forward in the Joint Fisheries Statement which sets out the UK's pathway to achieving sustainable fisheries.

While the response welcomes the FMPs as key delivery mechanisms to the eight core objectives under the Fisheries Act 2020, it raises some areas where the FMP should be strengthened e.g., where it could better address the Fisheries Act objectives or adopt a more precautionary approach to fisheries management.