Part of 2. Questions to the Minister for Rural Affairs and North Wales, and Trefnydd – in the Senedd at 2:40 pm on 13 October 2021.
This is something I've obviously discussed many times with the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Secretary of State and with the UK Government as a whole, certainly as we approached the EU transition period. Sometimes the UK Government's answer was, 'We'll send in the navy', which I don't think was the answer at all. But any illegal fishing is unacceptable.
What we did as a Government, because that was the second part of your question, was we ensured that we had new fishing patrol vessels, because, certainly when I came into portfolio five years ago, the vessels that we had at that time were not fit for purpose. So, you'll be aware we had new fishing enforcement vessels, which I think has certainly helped. But any illegal fishing is unacceptable. I meet with the DEFRA Minister and my counterparts in Scotland and Northern Ireland again, I think, at the end of this month, and certainly, fishing is always on the agenda.