Recognising and Protecting the National Benefit of Sustainable Fisheries in the UK

Coulthard, Sarah, Hatt, Ainsley, Lewis, Phoebe, Stewart, Bryce D., Roach, Michael, Clark, Robert, Fanshawe, Sam, White, Carole Sandrine, Urquhart, Julie, Percy, Jerry, Gray, Tim, Bulled, Emily, Richards, Joe, Turner, Rachel, Baker, Edward, Evans, Louisa, Chaigneau, Tom, Hooper, Tom, Longsden, Jack and Anbleyth‐evans, Jeremy (2025) Recognising and Protecting the National Benefit of Sustainable Fisheries in the UK. Fish and Fisheries. ISSN 1467-2960

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Abstract

Sustainable commercial fishing makes valuable contributions to coastal regions and broader national benefits. This paper offers three arguments in relation to what is required for the societal benefits of sustainable fisheries to be fully realised and considers each in the context of the UK but with global relevance. First, there is a need to raise the profile of the full range of benefits that are delivered through sustainable fisheries to coastal communities and the broader public. In the UK, the delivery of a ‘national benefit’ objective through fisheries is now enshrined in law by the Fisheries Act, 2020; we operationalise this through a new framing that distils eight ‘national benefits’ that all sustainable fisheries should deliver. Second, better acknowledgement of what society gains from sustainable fisheries must be paralleled with recognition of what society is simultaneously at risk of losing through the decline of the fishing fleet. We detail this decline in a new analysis of long-term UK data, which highlights that the decline is unequally felt, with some regions of the UK, and small-scale fishing sectors, experiencing loss more acutely. This reality leads us to argue a third point, that if society is to retain and truly harness the benefits that flow from sustainable fisheries, governing bodies must act quickly to ensure that fisheries are environmentally sustainable, diverse and inclusive, pursuing fisheries that ‘leave no one behind’.

Item Type:	Article
Uncontrolled Keywords:	sdg 14 - life below water ,/dk/atira/pure/sustainabledevelopmentgoals/life_below_water
UEA Research Groups:	University of East Anglia Schools > Faculty of Science > Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research Faculty of Science > Research Centres > Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research
Depositing User:	LivePure Connector
Date Deposited:	15 Apr 2025 11:30
Last Modified:	21 Apr 2025 00:17
URI:	https://ueaeprints.uea.ac.uk/id/eprint/99042
DOI:	10.1111/faf.12898

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