Memorandum submitted by the Department
for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (W19)
INTRODUCTION
1. "Net Benefits", published on
25 March 2004, is the report from the Prime Minister's Strategy
Unit on the review it carried out, between March and November
2003, of the options for a sustainable UK fishing industry in
the medium to long term. Commissioned by the Prime Minister after
his meeting with fishing industry representatives following the
Council of Ministers meeting setting the EU arrangements for managing
regulated fish stocks in 2003, it presents a rigorous analysis
of all issues of significance facing the industry. Its 33 recommendations
are explicitly addressed to government as a "basis for future
discussion between the UK Government and devolved administrations
and all stakeholders".
2. In considering this memorandum, the Committee
will, of course, be aware that responsibilities for fisheries
matters are devolved to the Scottish and Welsh administrations.
Consequently, different approaches to taking forward some of the
issues may develop in different parts of the UK.
3. Her Majesty's Government views the report
as a major opportunity to change the landscape of fisheries and
its management, which for far too long has been characterised
by a cycle of failure (of policies, management and relationships).
"Net Benefits" conveys the very positive basic message
that the fishing industry in the UK can be profitable if certain
fundamental changes are made. It would be a mistake to pass up
the opportunity to secure such a major benefit. Changes are certainly
required of government, but a wider ranging change is called for,
involving the industry itself, international bodies, and a large
number of other stakeholders. Securing the suite of radical changes
that is needed can only be achieved—as "Net Benefits"
itself recognises—through dialogue, followed by close cooperation,
among government and a wide range of interests.
4. Her Majesty's Government and the devolved
administrations are committed to conducting, and then building
decisively on, a comprehensive engagement with stakeholders. Defra
has assembled a dedicated team to take forward that engagement
in close cooperation with the devolved administrations, where
deployments have similarly been made in preparation for a comprehensive
engagement with stakeholders across the UK. The four administrations
will then publish their responses to "Net Benefits"
once this major engagement has confirmed the commitment of stakeholders
to act and established their detailed views on how to do so.
5. For delivery of a number of the "Net
Benefits" recommendations, commitment to change is also needed
at the level of the European Union and the other international
bodies that manage the international fish stocks on which the
UK and other fishing industries depend. Some relevant lines of
activity are already under way in the EU (for example the UK has
been extremely active in supporting and driving forward the EU's
implementation of Regional Advisory Councils). But many of the
other policy and management innovations recommended in "Net
Benefits" need to be delivered at the EU level. So another
important and continuing line of activity for Defra and the devolved
administrations, in parallel with the stakeholder engagement,
is to meet with the Commission and other Member States to create
the basis for taking these aspects forward. The Government agrees
with the Strategy Unit's analysis that it is in the best interests
of UK fishing to remain within the CFP and seek various improvements
and reforms, and so does not consider that the arguments advanced
by some for renationalising management of our fisheries have any
place in the ongoing discussion about how to take forward "Net
Benefits".
THE STAKEHOLDER
ENGAGEMENT AND
GOVERNMENT'S
RESPONSE
6. Her Majesty's Government and the devolved
administrations regard it as absolutely indispensable to the successful
delivery of the "Net Benefits" recommendations to hold
a genuine, responsive engagement with the fishing industry and
other stakeholders, both to achieve a common commitment to act
to bring about beneficial change, and to establish in detail how
to do so. Indeed, engaging in this way is itself one of the key
improvements which "Net Benefits" recommends. That is
why, in Defra and elsewhere, time has been taken to gather together
dedicated resources and manpower to conduct the engagement. As
of early September, that engagement is under way. The process
for conducting the engagement and generating the responses from
government in the light of it is known as the Sustainable Fisheries
Programme.
7. The arrangements for the engagement are
designed to be comprehensive and transparent and to provide for
all interested parties to make input throughout the process. The
key high level body is the Stakeholder Advisory Group, with membership
(listed at Annex A to this memorandum) representing the broad
stakeholder community. The Stakeholder Advisory Group held its
first meeting on 2 September. This was chaired by senior UK fisheries
department officials in order to launch the process, but for future
meetings they will now hand over to Andrew Dewar-Durie (Chairman,
Sea Fish Industry Authority), who the Group elected as their Chair.
8. A key point made by the Stakeholder Advisory
Group at its 2 September meeting was that the declared aim of
producing the responses from Her Majesty's Government and the
devolved administrations by December required too much ground
to be covered in a short space of time for stakeholders to participate
to their satisfaction. Government has accepted this point, and
the intention is now that the responses of HMG and the devolved
administrations should be published in Spring 2005. Between now
and then we want to maximise the involvement of stakeholders and
plan to do so in the following way:
— the first, preparatory, phase is
to gather ideas on the way forward. To help focus the responses
and provide a coherent framework for replies, the fisheries departments
in the UK have provided a series of 12 issues papers, each of
which covers a themed group of the "Net Benefits" recommendations
and suggests key questions and issues to be discussed in order
to take the recommendations forward. These papers were circulated
to an extensive list of consultees on 2 September, and are also
posted on the Sustainable Fisheries Programme's website (http://www.defra.gov.uk/fish/sea/sfp/index.htm).
It is important, at this stage as it will be at all stages of
the process, to secure detailed and technical input from all who
want to make it, and officials working on the programme will be
arranging to meet key players to receive and discuss their views.
Comments are sought in this first phase by 1 October (an extension
from the original deadline of 24 September). This is an exacting
timetable, but this is the first phase of a comprehensive consultation
process in which it is intended that there will be ample opportunity
for dialogue and discussion at all stages;
— the second phase of the Programme
will be to set up small Working Groups of stakeholders to help
distil the ideas gathered in the preparatory phase into possible
elements of the responses from government to "Net Benefits".
We envisage this phase of the work starting in late October, and
finishing in Jan/Feb 2005;
— finally the proposals from these
Working Groups will need to be taken into account in producing
the responses from Government by Spring 2005. The Stakeholder
Advisory Group (which will have been given the opportunity to
study what is emerging from the Programme and to make observations
at all stages), will be invited to play a key role at this stage
in advising Ministers before they decide the terms of their final
responses;
— the responses from HMG and the devolved
administrations are likely to combine commitments to early actions
with commitments to develop or negotiate radical change over some
years; and
— the whole Programme for engaging
with stakeholders and producing responses from government is being
overseen and guided by a Steering Board comprising senior officials
from the fisheries departments in the UK and other interested
Government Departments (including 10 Downing Street) and the Chairman
of the Stakeholder Advisory Group.
LIKELY THRUST
OF THE
RESPONSES FROM
GOVERNMENT
9. It would clearly be premature to speculate
at this stage on the detail of what will emerge from the stakeholder
engagement. The Government's expectations of that process were
clearly set out in the written ministerial statement to the House
by Ben Bradshaw, Minister for Nature Conservation and Fisheries,
when "Net Benefits" was launched on 25 March 2004:
"Government welcomes publication of the
report, and supports all the Report's broad conclusions and will
now explore and discuss the report in depth. It is important that
this is a fully inclusive process. Our aim is for the Fisheries
Departments in the UK to work closely in partnership with each
other, and in collaboration with the industry and other stakeholders,
to work up practicable and deliverable solutions, building on
the proposals and recommendations in the report."
10. The Government trusts that stakeholders
will want to see responses that are based on the analysis of the
Strategy Unit and either deliver the Unit's recommendations or
alternative approaches that have been agreed in discussion to
be a better way of addressing the problem identified by the Unit.
"Net Benefits" presents to all who care about the future
of the fishing industry in the UK, the opportunity to address
substantively key issues germane to the future success of the
industry, such as:
— how Government policy can help reinforce
clear strategies produced by the UK industry to make it globally
competitive;
— radical improvement in the processes
for interaction between fisheries managers and fishermen;
— substantial improvements in enforcement
arrangements, compliance and the quality of data;
— improvements in the scope of the
science which underpins fishing policy and the way it is commissioned,
presented, interpreted and applied;
— greater regionalisation of fisheries
management and inclusion of stakeholders in the management process;
— better integrating management of
fishing into management of the marine environment in general;
— the need for clarity on how vulnerable
communities are to be helped when affected by necessary change;
and
— the need for clearly expressed Government
objectives for fishing policy which will offer transparent guidance
on how environmental, economic and social considerations are to
be weighted in determining fishing policy.
11. One other key point in "Net Benefits"
is its conclusion that the UK fishing industry needs to be profitable.
Her Majesty's Government agrees, and considers that providing
a climate in which the industry can achieve profitability must
be a fundamental objective of our approach to the management of
fisheries in the long term. An examination of the Strategy Unit's
analysis of what is needed to achieve this—including its
conclusion that the mismatch between fishing capacity in the whitefish
sector and the fishing opportunities open to it is one key factor
holding the industry back from achieving profitability—will
be a key element in the stakeholder engagement process.
CONCLUSION/SUMMARY
12. "Net Benefits" will enable
plans to be developed over coming months for achieving a sustainable
and profitable future for the UK fishing industry. The detail
of this can only be determined in the light of the comprehensive
engagement with stakeholders that "Net Benefits" itself
declares to be necessary. This memorandum from Defra has therefore
been designed to convey our determination that this opportunity
will not be passed up, to describe how it is intended to provide
for maximum stakeholder involvement in the process, and to give
some indication of areas that we consider the responses of government
must not fail to address.
Annex A
LIST OF MEMBERS OF STAKEHOLDER ADVISORY GROUP
| Name | Organisation
| Status |
| Alan McCulla | Anglo-North Irish Fish Producers Organisation
| Member |
| Alex West | Scottish Fishermen's Federation
| Member |
| Andrew Dewar-Durie | Sea Fish Industry Authority
| Chairman |
| Barrie Deas | National Federation of Fishermen's Organisations
| Member |
| Chris Grieve | Marine Stewardship Council
| Member |
| Cliff Morrison | Food and Drink Federation Seafood Group
| Member |
| Richard Ferre | National Federation of Sea Anglers
| Member |
| Dick James | Northern Ireland Fish Producers Organisation
| Member |
| Duncan McInnes | Western Isles Fishermen's Assoc/Highland and Islands Enterprise
| Member |
| Elizabeth Stevenson | National Federation of Fishermen's Organisations
| Member |
| Euan Dunn | RSPB | Member
|
| Hamish Morrison | Scottish Fishermen's Federation
| Member |
| Helen Davies | WWF | Member
|
| Jennifer Craw | Scottish Enterprise
| Member |
| Joan Edwards | Wildlife Trusts/Marine Link
| Member |
| Dr Joe Horwood | CEFAS |
Member |
| Margot Bateman | Welsh Assembly Government nominee
| Member |
| Mark Tasker | Joint Nature Conservation Committee
| Member |
| Maurice Taylor | Scottish Fish Merchants' Federation
| Member |
| Peter Hunt | Shellfish Association of Great Britain
| Member |
| Peter Winterbottom | Association of Sea Fisheries Committees
| Member |
| Dr Richard Briggs | DARD |
Member |
| Richard Slaski | The Federation of Scottish Aquaculture Producers
| Member |
| Dr Robin Cook | Scottish Fisheries Research Service
| Member |
| Dr Stephen Lockwood | Welsh Assembly Government nominee
| Member |
| Tony Hawkins | North Sea Commission Fisheries Partnership
| Member |
29 October 2004
|
| |
|
