The table below summarises the positions of the major political parties on fishing and the marine environment as stated in their main manifestos for the 2015 General Election. It does not include positions taken or statements some parties or candidates have made outside of the main manifestos. Please note positions on food and farming, which we have dealt with separately. Nor does this include the positions of the Northern Irish parties. If we have missed or effectively misrepresented any positions, please email ruth@sustainweb.org.
|
Party |
Quota and Management |
Marine Protection Zones |
Discards |
British Coastal Communities |
|
Conservatives |
Reform EU quota system so that cod, haddock, plaice and seabass ‘fished sustainably by the end of the next Parliament’ |
Create a ‘Blue Belt’ in the UK by completing the Marine Conservation Zones already started, and in overseas territories ‘subject to local support and environmental need’ |
Maintain discard ban |
Devolve management to North Sea Communities and ‘rebalance the UK’s inland water quotas to smaller, specific locally-based fishing communities’ (we think they mean ‘inshore’ not ‘inland’) |
|
Green |
Allocate fishing quotas to sustainable fisheries |
Support marine protected areas in British overseas territories, the South Atlantic and Arctic |
|
Allow sustainable fishing communities a greater share of quota |
|
Labour |
|
|
|
Create better paid jobs |
|
Lib Dem |
‘Work with industry and others to develop a national plan for sustainable UK fisheries’ |
Have an ‘ecologically coherent’ network of MPAs by 2020. Push for creation of protected Zone in the Arctic, impose standards on UK vessels operating in the Arctic, and ban EU fleets from fishing previously unfished ground. |
Fully implement the discard ban set out in the Common Fisheries Policy |
'Fair treatment' for inshore fleets |
|
Plaid Cymru |
|
|
|
Support a ‘Blue Growth Strategy’ to strengthen the marine and maritime economy |
|
SNP |
With the fishing industry, reform the quota management system ‘for the common interest’ |
|
Implement the discard ban ‘in a way that does not damage the viability of the fleet and is workable for our fishermen’ |
Increase the profitability of the fishing industry |
|
UKIP |
Withdraw from the EU quota system, and instead aim to establish a 200 nautical-mile exclusive economic zone around the UK which will be fully controlled by the UK. Ban all industrial fishing for bass. Foreign trawlers must apply for licence. |
Establish system of moveable ‘no take zones’ to allow fish spawning and recovery. Enhance Fishery Protection resources to guard British fishing grounds |
Strict ban on all discards of dead fish. All commercial species caught to be landed and recorded to better inform management |
Ensure sea anglers and our under 10-metre boat fleet are represented on the Marine Management Organisation. |
Sustainable Fish: A campaign to protect precious marine environments and fishing livelihoods, and call for fish to be bought from sustainable sources. We want to show what can be done if people and organisations make a concerted effort to change their buying habits.
