We’re back following the General Election to share the latest on Fisheries Management Plans (FMPs).
We have been busy behind the scenes preparing for the public consultation on five new Defra-led draft FMPs on:
- Cockle
- North Sea and Channel sprat (jointly with the Scottish Government)
- Queen scallop
- Southern North Sea and Channel skates and rays
- Southern North Sea demersal non-quota species
We are also taking forward the implementation of the existing published plans:
- Bass (jointly with the Welsh Government)
- Channel non-quota demersal species
- Crab and lobster (and crawfish)
- King scallop (jointly with the Welsh Government)
- Whelk
- Southern North Sea and Eastern Channel mixed flatfish
With the support of new ministers, we’re excited to move forward with fresh ideas, energy and direction. Our blog is one part of our approach to working collaboratively with you, so with that we are officially relaunching our blog, and we encourage you to guide us on what you want to see about FMPs.
You can do this by commenting on our posts and you can also tell us what you want to hear about by following the feedback link on About this blog – Fisheries Management Plans to contact us.
We’re got some exciting new content coming soon, aimed at providing transparency to FMP development and implementation. As things progress you can expect to hear about progress and how decisions are being made. We’ll take you behind the scenes to meet our policy teams, understand the processes and see change in action.
Our goal is to make everything more open, accessible, inclusive and to keep you informed and at the centre of everything we do. Your voice matters, and your needs and opinions will help to drive actions and decisions as we navigate this new period of change.
Thanks for joining us on this journey and subscribe to make sure you don’t miss any of our updates!
13 comments
Comment by Greg posted on
This looks like a positive move. I am interested in the Bass FMP. It would be great to see an update on each of the actions it contains. Is that possible?
tia.
Comment by Nicola Lewellen posted on
Hi Greg, Thank you for the feedback (and being the first to comment on the blog!), we’re glad you like this approach.
We’ll provide updates on the blog as we move on through the implementation journey for each FMP, so come back to the site, or subscribe to receive alerts about new posts.
Nicola~ blog editor
Comment by Greg posted on
That's great Nicola. I see that the Wales group is already up and running. Do you have a timescale for the England group?
Comment by Nicola Lewellen posted on
We do, the intention is to establish the England Bass Management Group in late Autumn.
Nicola~ blog editor
Comment by Greg posted on
Hi Nicola, can you explain the process for choosing the working group members, who they are (if known) and especailly who will represent the angling community, thanks again, Greg
Comment by Nicola Lewellen posted on
Hi Greg, The membership of the Bass Management Group (BMG) will include representatives from Defra and Welsh government, as well as scientific leads, regulators, environmental representatives, recreational angling bodies and commercial fishing bodies. The final membership for the BMG is still being put together but further information will be shared more widely once established.
Nicola ~ blog editor
Comment by Michael posted on
I'd like to see some changes to the priorities identified by Defra in the BASS FMP.
Surely addressing the long standing illegal targeting with gill nets in the SW has to be a short term goal.
Comment by Nicola Lewellen posted on
Hi Michael, thank you for your comment and our bass FMP policy team have advised:
We are committed to delivering the measures set out in the bass FMP to manage stocks in English and Welsh waters.
To ensure effective management of bass stocks the FMP, which was published in December 2023, identifies 9 goals focused on domestic management priorities. These goals were created in collaboration with stakeholders.
In particular Goal 4 - Ensure full compliance with bass regulations specifically seeks to improve collaboration between regulators on targeted enforcement as a short-term measure which relates to your comment.
We agreed with stakeholders that future management of the fishery should be developed using approaches that bring together fishers, scientists, policymakers, regulators, and other stakeholders, and to support this approach a management group is being set up to consider implementation of the measures set out within the FMP. We’ll talk about the group in a future blog post.
Nicola~ blog editor
Comment by Michael posted on
Thanks for the reply.
Re "In particular Goal 4 - Ensure full compliance with bass regulations"
It appears a major problem is with the writing of the regulations. Regarding gill nets without a definition of bycatch some IFCAs have stated the regulations are unenforceable so are treating allowance as quota.
Please reassure me resolving this will be a part of the "ensuring compliance" and a short term goal.
Comment by Nicola Lewellen posted on
Hi Michael,
Thank you for your comments on the FMP blog. As the comment thread is getting quite long with multiple questions it would be better to go directly to the bass FMP team. You can email them at BassFMP@defra.gov.uk so they can answer your questions.
Many thanks, Nicola~ blog editor
Comment by Michael posted on
Thanks for your reply,
"specifically seeks to improve collaboration between regulators on targeted enforcement as a short-term measure "
Is your reply related to the memorandum of understanding proposed on the allowing sharing information between the MMO and IFCAs ? who could be in the same building ? Or something else appreciate some clarity.
Comment by Nicola Lewellen posted on
Thanks Michael,
Improved collaboration between regulators will look at all aspects of cooperation between enforcement bodies with respects to bass management
Nicola~ blog editor
Comment by Martin W posted on
On the face of it, this looks very encouraging from a Bass perspective.
However, this needs to be tempered somewhat, because we have been here before many times.
I would like to see this as a genuine attempt to take fisheries management forward, and honestly believe this is a massive opportunity to do so.
The frustrating part is realising that many of the recommendations in the current Bass FMP have come up time and time again, and the Science is there to back it up, with years worth of data too.
As above, the opportunity is there to do something really special....I really hope it doesn't turn into a box ticking exercise where meetings become more important than actions.