Marine conservation NGO Blue Marine Foundation has taken legal action against the U.K. government, claiming it has breached its own laws by repeatedly setting fishing quotas for more than half of U.K. stocks at levels higher than those guided by scientific advice.
The London, U.K.-based NGO is arguing that the government’s mismanagement of fish stocks is an irresponsible use of national assets and runs counter to the interests of the nation’s fishermen. The organization is also warning this overfishing will lead to the depletion of key species such as mackerel, Celtic Sea cod, monkfish, and Irish Sea whiting.
According to Blue Marine, these exceedingly high fishing opportunities are illegal under the post-Brexit fishing law that requires management of U.K. fisheries to be based on the best available scientific advice and for any decisions to be made transparently.
On 24 January, Blue Marine issued a pre-action protocol letter to U.K. Secretary of State for Environment, Food, and Rural Affairs Steve Barclay, requesting the government admit liability for breaching its legal duty to conserve stocks and acknowledge the excessive levels of secrecy it placed around setting fishing opportunities.
Blue Marine Co-Founder Charles Clover said the foundation specifically asked the government to provide information on why it believed it was justified setting quotas above scientific advice. It also questioned whether information on the likely impact setting quotas too high would place on employment and food security, as well as fish populations, was available and whether the government took this into account.
“These were factors that Blue Marine believes should have been considered for the decision to be lawful, as fishing opportunities are a national asset,” Clover said. “The government provided little or no information in response to Blue Marine’s questions as to how the minister’s decisions complied with its own 2020 Fisheries Act, which has four objectives to do with the long-term sustainability of fish populations, as well as socioeconomic objectives.”
Blue Marine followed up these requests by threatening litigation on 2 February on the basis that the U.K. exceeded scientific advice, gave no evidence as to why it did so, and there was no evidence the government weighed socioeconomic impact and scientific advice in its decision-making.
“We gave the U.K. government two weeks to respond; it finally replied on 28 February, and it gave little or no evidence to support its decision,” Clover said.
Without satisfactory answers to Blue Marine’s questions, the organization issued proceedings on 20 March, which means papers have been formally lodged. These papers cannot be retracted without imposing costs.
“It is the formal start of the court process,” Clover said. “We are advised that this will go to trial sometime between July and September.”
One of the most egregious examples of the government’s irresponsibility, according to the NGO, is the issuance of 24,000 metric tons (MT) in mackerel quota given by Norway to the U.K. in return for Norway to be able to fish in U.K. waters.
The U.K. negotiated this quota, worth GBP 24 million (USD 30.3 million, EUR 28 million), despite the stock being overfished, and handed it out for reasons that remain secret, the foundation said.
“In terms of transparency, it is not remotely clear what benefit the public is getting from over-allocating this very valuable resource – the mackerel – to a handful of multi-millionaires,” Clover said. “It is time that the distribution of fishing opportunities is reformed to make it clear that natural resources are being distributed according to scientific advice to protect the marine environment and food security in ways which benefit our struggling coastal communities.”
At the same time, following 2023 year-end annual fisheries talks between the U.K. and the E.U., the government has allocated quotas for a number of other species at higher levels than scientific advice recommends, according to Blue Marine.
Some U.K. fishing groups agree with the lawsuit’s claims.
“The government is already reneging on its commitment in the post-Brexit Fisheries Act to include social, economic, and environmental criteria when determining fishing quota,” Director of the New Under Ten Fishermen’s Association Jerry Percy said. “It is able to ignore organizations like ours because they know we don’t have the resources to challenge them in court. We, therefore, welcome Blue Marine’s efforts to hold them to account and to shine a light on how these decisions are made and on what basis.”
