Cover letter to the UK Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs regarding the joint NGO recommendations to the UK and the EU on fishing opportunities for 2025

This cover letter, co-signed by 26 environmental NGOs active in the UK and/or the EU, was sent to the UK Secretary of State and the Minister of State for Food, Farming and Fisheries, accompanying our joint NGO recommendations to the UK on fishing opportunities for 2025. In parallel, a similar letter was sent to the acting EU interim-Commissioner. In these twin letters, we urge both the UK and the EU to end overfishing of shared stocks and invest in stock and ecosystem resilience in the face of climate change and other mounting pressures, by setting precautionary, ecosystem-based fishing opportunities well below the best available scientific single-stock advice.

The letter to the UK Secretary of State emphasises some of the key points discussed in more detail in the joint NGO TAC (Total Allowable Catch) recommendations documents for the UK and the EU, respectively, namely the following:

• Set catch limits well below the best available scientific single-stock advice for maximum catches;
• Fully implement the western Mediterranean multiannual plan;
• Apply a precautionary and ecosystem-based approach when setting fishing opportunities, with special attention to mixed fisheries and interspecies dynamics;
• Eliminate bycatch and discards, increase selectivity, incentivize low impact fishing through quota allocation based on environmental and social criteria, and diligently control fisheries; and
• Increase transparency of decision-making.

Related links:

Find other files produced or co-signed by ClientEarth related to the annual negotiations on fishing opportunities from 2015 onwards here.