4. Will the Minister make a statement on measures to tackle illegal fishing? OQ57024

Thank you. The Welsh Government monitors and, where necessary, enforces compliance with fisheries regulations through a range of assurance and inspection activities. These include patrols, surveillance and inspections onshore and at sea, and we also take appropriate and proportionate legal action.

A group of local fishermen has contacted me about alleged poaching that is taking place, and the lack of enforcement of fishing byelaws. The allegation is that there has been a significant decline in the enforcement teams of Natural Resources Wales, leaving only a team of 15 to do this work the length and breadth of Wales. The group of fishermen has said that this is insufficient to safeguard our fisheries, and reports that poachers are taking advantage of this, and are causing major damage to fish stocks and to the viability of the waterways for the future. What specific steps will you take to improve the situation? 

We've certainly increased the number of marine enforcement officers that we as a Government have, and, in north Wales, it has increased also over the last couple of years. The number of onshore inspections has increased significantly. Just in this year alone, up until the middle of October, obviously, we've had 350 onshore inspections, and that compares to 310 in 2020. So, we are seeing far more inspection work. I'm very concerned to hear of the particular concern that you raised, and if you want to write to me, I will ask for that specifically to be done. But, as I say, the level of inspections has increased significantly, and, as we are bringing in new recruits, because we are continuing to recruit enforcement officers, I would hope to see activity much more closely monitored, and obviously enforcement put in there. 

As the Minister will be aware, despite every effort to stop and prevent illegal fishing, some people are still determined to break the law and illegally overharvest our seas for their commercial gain. This, unfortunately, has a huge knock-on effect, with fish stocks being depleted, the livelihoods of law-abiding fishermen being affected, and the placement of endangered fish species into more perilous population decline. As many in this Chamber will know, Brexit has led to more than just heated words regarding the fishing of European countries in British territorial waters, and a current issue that is emerging is that fishing vessels are switching off their automatic identification systems and long-range identification tracking devices in order to fish in waters undetected. I have little doubt that Welsh waters are likely to be targeted by this behaviour, so could the Minister make a statement about what conversations they and their colleagues have had with the UK Government regarding this practice, and what measures are they able to take to prevent it?

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.