The Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (EFRA) Committee of the UK Parliament recently published a report that outlines how the government can help the UK fishing industry thrive after a number of unforced errors.
The EFRA Committee said its report titled Resetting the relationship with fishing communities highlighted a lack of trust and understanding between fishing communities and the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA), following the perceived shortcomings of the UK’s agreement of a 12-year reciprocal access deal with the EU.
Fishing communities are concentrated in a small number of seaside towns and cities but are vital to the economies and identities of those places, MPs heard.
The cross-party committee has made recommendations on how a productive relationship can be forged through effective administration of a new fishing and coastal growth fund and sending officials to work and mix with fishers in their communities.
It also recommended the creation of a "sea use framework" and regional strategies to help the sector and others operate with long-term certainty along the UK’s spatially challenged waters.
The committee said the Marine Management Organisation (MMO) must also return to publishing enforcement data, after its abandonment of this standard of transparency fuelled mistrust.
During a visit to Brixham, MPs met fishers and local representatives who spoke of the detrimental impacts of rising regulatory demands, fragmented policymaking and limited engagement with DEFRA. Those operating smaller vessels or businesses said the administrative burden was increasingly unmanageable, with some indicating they may quit the industry.
The EFRA Committee said trust had been badly damaged by confusion and poor communication over regulatory changes introduced since Brexit.
A recent example was when the sector was initially left with only six months to prepare for technical changes resulting from the annual UK–EU consultations for 2026. Further confusion arose when Ministers announced a longer lead-in time for the changes, which was not communicated to the MMO.
The committee has advised that DEFRA should require all officials working on fisheries policy, funding schemes and regulatory design to undertake regular, in-person engagement at ports and with those operating active fishing vessels. This programme should mirror the department’s existing initiative to place civil servants on farms, ensuring they get a practical understanding of the realities of the fishing industry.
DEFRA has also been advised to provide the EFRA Committee with a clear written account of its engagement with the fishing industry following the release of the December 2025 UK–EU fisheries written record. This should set out the dates and stakeholders involved, how the new technical measures and deadlines were communicated and whether the flexibility around the June 1, 2026 implementation date was explicitly conveyed.
The department should also urgently publish a confirmed implementation timeline for the new technical measures for vessels operating in UK waters, alongside detailed steps it is taking to support industry to prepare for and implement the new requirement.
