17 September 2026
The All-Party Parliamentary Group on Fisheries has published a fisheries action plan. Can the government take the decisive next step?
The NFFO has called on successive governments to take fishing more seriously as an industry. Our sector is not conservation problem, nor an impediment to building offshore wind farms. Fishing produces essential food, creates jobs, and binds communities together and it should be given the respect it deserves and the support it needs.
There is already a national strategy for offshore wind power, and another for marine conservation. Fishing features in both, but only as something to be accommodated if convenient and pushed aside if not. While the sea is carved up between those two sectors, fishing is remorselessly squeezed out. As long as the fishing industry does not have a national strategy of its own, it will always be subject to other people’s narratives and secondary to other people’s ambitions.
The NFFO believes that a national strategy on fishing – which in practice may require a localised strategy for each of the UK’s four nations – is essential for this. That is also the conclusion of a new report published last week by the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Fisheries (https://www.fisheriesappg.org/action-plan-report). These MPs and peers from across the political spectrum have, via a working group chaired by former Fisheries Minister Daniel Zeichner, taken evidence from a wide variety of people and groups from many different backgrounds and perspectives. Many NFFO members submitted their views and suggestions, and several sat on the expert advisory panel that helped to shape the final report.
The resulting report is a substantial and well-reasoned document, with 38 recommendations for actions that the Group believes are necessary for fishing in Britain to thrive. These cover stock management; training and recruitment; fleet modernisation; funding and more. The very first recommendation, linking all the others together, is that we should have a fishing strategy: an approach that cuts across civil service departmental boundaries, to unlock opportunities for the fishing industry to thrive.
The report was launched at Fishmonger’s Hall, in London, last week. Fishermen’s representatives, including the NFFO’s Mike Cohen, Elaine Whyte of the Clyde Fishermen’s Association, and NIFPO’s Lynn Gilmore, spoke at the event: expressing their support for the Action Plan and urging the Government to adopt its recommendations. Fisheries Minister Stephen Morgan MP was there too, and he delivered a speech notable for its enthusiasm about the potential of our sector and a clear statement of the pride he feels in it. Our Minster choosing to attend the launch of this report and to speak so warmly about our industry there is hopefully a positive sign of that our message is being heard in government.
The APPG’s report is not a fishing strategy, but it does identify the key factors that could provide the outline of one. As the report’s foreword reminds us, though: “Delivering it is now the work of Government.” Hopefully they will start that work soon. If they do, then the other parties at Westminster must back them. These early signs that progress might finally be made are far too important to be wasted in political squabbling.