The SNP MP also warned that unresolved negotiations over mackerel quota shares remained a major concern for Scotland\u2019s pelagic fleet. He pointed to comments from Scottish Pelagic Fishermen\u2019s Association chief executive Ian Gatt, who has repeatedly raised concerns about the absence of an agreement between coastal states on mackerel management.<\/p>\n
Support for those concerns came from Northern Ireland. DUP MP Jim Shannon told the debate that Northern Ireland\u2019s fishing sector generated around \u00a350 million in landings during 2024, employed 445 people full-time and supported approximately 6,500 jobs ashore. He said fishing remained central to the economic and cultural fabric of coastal communities.<\/p>\n
Shannon warned that the sector was facing mounting pressure from marine protected areas, offshore renewable energy projects and restrictions on access to fishing grounds. He told MPs that \u201cThe Northern Ireland fishing industry has lost nearly 9,000 km of fishing grounds in the Irish sea over the last couple of decades\u201d through a combination of protected areas, wind farm developments and other spatial restrictions.<\/p>\n
He also echoed calls for immigration reforms, saying: \u201cThe Northern Ireland industry wants to work with the Home Office to co-design a visa system that is fit for purpose, that meets the needs of Government and industry and that delivers a sustainable seafood supply chain for the future.\u201d<\/p>\n
Shannon highlighted the financial strain caused by fuel costs, telling MPs that fuel expenditure, which had previously accounted for between 15% and 30% of operating costs, had risen to around 50% during the recent conflict involving Iran.<\/p>\n
Responding for the Government, Fisheries Minister Stephen Morgan defended current policies and insisted ministers recognised the strategic importance of the sector. He told MPs: \u201cFishing is not just an industry, and fishermen are not just businessmen; they and their industry are economically, socially and culturally important to the vitality of many coastal communities across the United Kingdom.\u201d<\/p>\n
Morgan acknowledged the challenges facing the industry, including rising costs, pressure on fish stocks and competition for marine space, but said the Government was committed to working with industry representatives. He highlighted what he described as recent achievements, including securing access to 640,000 tonnes of fishing opportunities for 2026, estimated to be worth more than \u00a31 billion.<\/p>\n
The Minister also said the Fisheries and Seafood Scheme was already supporting coastal communities in England, adding: \u201cSo far, we have received around 260 applications with a value of around \u00a315 million in grants.\u201d<\/p>\n
On trade, Morgan said the Government was pursuing a new sanitary and phytosanitary agreement with the European Union that would reduce barriers to seafood exports. He told MPs that the agreement \u201cwill make it easier to sell British fish to our largest trading partner, and will strengthen the economies of our coastal communities\u201d.<\/p>\n
While MPs differed sharply on funding, Brexit and future fisheries policy, there was broad agreement across the debate that coastal communities remain heavily dependent on a viable fishing industry and that action will be needed to address labour shortages, infrastructure investment, rising costs and future access to fishing opportunities.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The SNP MP also warned that unresolved negotiations over mackerel quota shares remained a major concern for Scotland\u2019s…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":684394,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[228312,228313,228314,59,57,58,50,228315,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-684393","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-united-kingdom","tag-commercial-fishing-news","tag-daily-fishing-news","tag-fishing-news","tag-gb","tag-great-britain","tag-greatbritain","tag-news","tag-scottish-fishing-news","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/684393","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=684393"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/684393\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/684394"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=684393"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=684393"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=684393"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}