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Environmental activists failed in their attempts to strengthen post-Brexit protections against overfishing on Tuesday night, as the government rejected a series of amendments to the fishing bill.
Attempts to enshrine in law a commitment to keep fishing quotas within sustainable limits advised by scientists failed, and an amendment to ban super-trackers in marine protected areas was also rejected by 331 votes to 197.
The battle will now move to the House of Lords, where the peers are expected to try to restore some measures on sustainability and destructive fishing practices. However, the government’s strong majority of 80 means that only minor adjustments will be accepted.
Victoria Prentis, a minister in the Department of Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra), told MPs during a four-hour debate that the bill had to “balance environmental, social and economic needs.”
But activists said MPs had ignored government promises that sustainability would be a legal compromise in the reorganization of UK fishing rights.
Melissa Moore, UK head of policy at conservation group Oceana, said: “It is a sad day for UK fisheries as the bill will allow overfishing to continue as there is no deadline or time frame. clear obligation to fish sustainably. This is bad news for fishermen as more stocks will be at risk of collapse, bad news for coastal communities and bad news for the public who love fish dinners. “
She said the bill weakened the protections the UK had under the EU, which has a deadline to eliminate overfishing this year. “The UK government’s rhetoric that it would develop ‘gold standard’ fisheries management is a joke,” he said.
Luke Pollard, the shadow environment secretary, said: “Conservatives have again voted against creating new jobs in our fishing communities and stopping the destruction of marine habitats by super-trackers. British fishermen and our seas deserve better. “
For more than four decades, British fishermen have been governed by the EU’s Common Fisheries Policy (CFP), according to which catch quotas are divided between member states at annual meetings in Brussels. But UK fleets have long been at a disadvantage by the deal because governments agreed to small catches to enter the Common Market in the 1970s. About 60% of fish stocks in UK waters were allocated to other EU member states under the CFP.
Proponents of Brexit defended the fisheries reform as a key victory after leaving the EU. Within the Brexit negotiations, it has become a very controversial topic.
The ministers made a small concession on marine protected areas, agreeing to conduct more research on whether destructive practices such as bottom trawling should be allowed. Charles Clover, Executive Director of the Blue Marine Foundation, told The Guardian: “The minister is now considering enforcing the existing law in 5% of our offshore marine protected areas. Why is this government so afraid to do what is obviously the right thing to do? “
Greenpeace also criticized the plans, under which large, super-trawler vessels, which can pick up 250 tonnes of fish in a single day, will still be able to fish in marine protected areas, without trawling on the seabed.
Will McCallum, Director of Oceans for Greenpeace UK, said: “Despite huge political support from the public and across parties to ban destructive fishing such as supertrawlers and bottom trawling in our offshore marine protected areas , the government’s ambition remains woefully weak. Fishing boats over 100 meters in length have no place in so-called protected areas. The fact that their nets do not touch the seabed should not mean that they are given the full right to transport hundreds of tons of fish every day from vulnerable habitats. “
The Conservative manifesto promised that the fishing bill would contain a legal commitment to fish sustainably, which activists said had not been met.
Helen McLachlan, Director of WWF’s Fisheries Program, said: “The UK has missed an opportunity to take the first crucial steps towards the recovery of the oceans.”
