A High Court decision to dismiss calls for a review of the way in which fishing quotas are allocated ‘above scientific advice’ has been lambasted by the Blue Marine Foundation for “condoning irresponsibility” that could lead to the collapse of both fish populations and fishing communities in the UK.

Last week, a High Court judge dismissed the UK ocean advocacy group’s call for a judicial review of the way in which the majority of fishing quotas are allocated. Blue Marine Foundation had argued that quotas routinely set above scientific advice were leading to declines “bound to result in the collapse of staple fish stocks.”

Despite the policies in place designed to stop overexploitation of the fish stocks in the UK’s waters – including the Fisheries Act 2020 – fishing quotas set for 54% of species this year ‘failed the government’s own metrics for sustainability’, including quotas for staple stocks, such as mackerel.

“The continuation of these sorts of decisions, year on year, has collapsed cod, whiting, and now pollack – the last major stock on which the inshore fleet depended,” said Tom Appleby, head of legal affairs at Blue Marine Foundation. 

“We have lost nearly 30% of the jobs in the fishing industry since 2016, as a direct result of decisions like these. The UK is now down to around 6,500 active full-time jobs. The entire industry would fit into the Dover Athletic football stadium.”

Blue Marine Foundation has confirmed it will seek to appeal the judgement handed down last week, arguing that even in the short term, quotas being consistently set in excess of scientific advice will lead to stock collapse.

Charles Clover, co-founder of Blue Marine Foundation, said: “Is it right or legal that the entire adult spawning stock of a fish can be sacrificed, just so the fishing fleet can go on fishing for other species? That is utterly perverse when there are other alternatives, such as area closures, which would grow that stock for the future.   

“This judgement has condoned irresponsibility. It says that ministers have the discretion to make bad and irresponsible decisions like this, without proper justification, even if they are manifestly against the public interest, against those of the natural world, and even against the stated objectives of the Fisheries Act.”

Blue Marine Foundation logged its complaint against the government’s approach to fish quotas earlier this month when it was joined by a cohort of inshore fishermen and representatives of the UK’s under ten metre fleet in taking a stand for sustainable fishing within UK waters. 

Pointing to severe declines in populations of mackerel, Celtic Sea cod, Channel pollack, and Irish Sea Whiting over the past few decades, the Charity argued that the UK’s current approach to fish quotas considered only the short-term commerciality and acted against the interests of the majority of fishermen who ‘face an increasing risk of running out of fish to catch.’

The case challenged the December 2023 determination of fishing quotas for the year 2024 – set by the previous government – which resulted in a quota for 54% of fish stocks being allocated above scientific advice.

“This is a challenging day for the health of our seas and for jobs in what’s left of the UK fishing industry,” said Appleby of the verdict. “The court has upheld a process where decisions over the public’s fishery have led to its deliberate and reckless overexploitation.

“The judgment seems to indicate that there is no single decision where we can hold ministers and the civil service to account under the Fisheries Act, there is no duty to give us members of the public any indication of how these (often bizarre) decisions come about beyond the merest smattering of random detail, and that somehow it is rational to make decisions that will inevitably collapse stocks.”

The judgement has, however, been welcomed by the UK government which maintains that “sustainability has always been at the heart of the UK’s approach to setting catch limits” adding – in a statement issued by a governmental spokesperson – that it has “fully complied with our obligations under the Fisheries Act 2020 and the Joint Fisheries Statement.”

“We are pleased the judge has dismissed this claim, and we will continue to support the UK fishing industry by delivering world-class, sustainable management of our sea fisheries,” said a representative of the Department for Environment, Food, and Rural Affairs.

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