{"id":207815,"date":"2025-10-08T00:46:07","date_gmt":"2025-10-08T00:46:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/207815\/"},"modified":"2025-10-08T00:46:07","modified_gmt":"2025-10-08T00:46:07","slug":"brexit-has-done-nothing-to-stem-sharp-decline-of-uk-fish-populations-shows-study-fishing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/207815\/","title":{"rendered":"Brexit has done nothing to stem sharp decline of UK fish populations, shows study | Fishing"},"content":{"rendered":"

The UK\u2019s populations of fish such as cod<\/a>, herring and mackerel<\/a> are still being \u201cgrossly mismanaged\u201d by politicians and overfished, despite hitting unhealthy levels, a study has found.<\/p>\n

British fish stocks have been under growing pressure for decades, but during the Brexit<\/a> campaign some politicians promised that leaving the EU would allow the UK to take control.<\/p>\n

The reality, say ocean experts, is that in the five years since leaving the EU, rather than protecting British fish, politicians have set catch limits too high, allowing international trawlers to plunder stocks.<\/p>\n

Of 105 stocks assessed, the report by Oceana UK found that only 41% were considered to be healthy, meaning they were not being fished so much that they were unable to repopulate.<\/p>\n

Five of the UK’s top 10 fish stocks are overexploited<\/a><\/p>\n

Hugo Tagholm, the executive director of Oceana UK, said: \u201cFive years after becoming an independent coastal state, the UK seems to have accepted a state of relentless decline. We urgently need a plan to end overfishing, one that follows the science and puts our seas on a long-term path to recovery \u2013 ensuring a new generation of coastal prosperity. But this requires leadership. Ministers must act now to redefine the future of fishing, so that those that fish in harmony with nature are prioritised over those that devastate our seabed and empty our seas.\u201d<\/p>\n

North Sea cod is at critically low levels, yet continues to be overfished. The same is true for Celtic sea cod, Irish sea whiting, Irish sea herring and North Sea and east English Channel horse mackerel.<\/p>\n

About a quarter of the UK’s 105 fish stocks are overexploited<\/a><\/p>\n

Callum Roberts, a professor of marine conservation at the University of Exeter, said: \u201cThese results highlight the gross mismanagement of the UK\u2019s greatest natural asset \u2013 its seas. The government has the best fisheries science at its fingertips, and even when data are scarce, the course to restoration is clear. Our seas are already at risk from oil, sewage and agri-chemical pollution; habitat destruction; and the climate crisis. We need to move away from brute extraction, regardless of collateral damage and set a new course to make fishing fair, evidence-based and above all sustainable, so that it works within nature\u2019s limits.\u201d<\/p>\n

The evidence shows that sensible management can increase fish stocks to healthy levels, sustaining the fishing industry and allowing the wildlife to recover. The UK\u2019s best-performing stocks, including West of Scotland haddock, western Channel sole and North Sea plaice, have remained healthy and sustainably fished since 2020, in large part thanks to catch limits set in line with scientific advice.<\/p>\n

But there are regional disparities: the Irish Sea is the worst affected, with overfished stocks rising from 27% in 2020 to 41% today, and in the Celtic Sea a third of stocks are overfished to critically low population sizes, and many more overexploited. Western Scotland is the healthiest region, with 62% of stocks assessed as healthy and only 12% overfished.<\/p>\n

Oceana UK is calling for ministers to deliver a strategy to end overfishing by the end of next year, put in a legal deadline to rebuild fish stocks, and publish an annual parliament-scrutinised audit of fish stocks.<\/p>\n

Clive Mills, a Sussex fisher, said: \u201cWe don\u2019t have another 10 years, I promise you that now. I have seen it since I was a young lad out on the boats, I\u2019m now 66, and I can tell you we are on the edge of a precipice. We\u2019re taking too much, too fast. If fishermen are going to be true to themselves, we\u2019ve got to stop. Fifty years ago, when they brought in fish quotas, we asked \u2018what are those for?\u2019 To protect the future of fishing, we were told. And we all thought, that would be good, we need a future for fishing. But we haven\u2019t stayed that course, and now here we are. It\u2019s got to stop.\u201d<\/p>\n

A Defra spokesperson said: \u201cDefra are working with the fishing industry to promote British seafood and manage stocks sustainably \u2013 and have announced a brand new \u00a3360m fisheries and coastal growth fund to drive growth in the sector.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are committed to restoring our stocks to sustainable levels and have made significant progress over the past five years, while continuing to support the long-term viability of our domestic fishing industry.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The UK\u2019s populations of fish such as cod, herring and mackerel are still being \u201cgrossly mismanaged\u201d by politicians…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":207816,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[47],"tags":[192,79],"class_list":{"0":"post-207815","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-environment","8":"tag-environment","9":"tag-science"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/207815","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=207815"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/207815\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/207816"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=207815"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=207815"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=207815"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}