FISH, FISHERIES AND AQUACULTURE POLICY BRIEFS

The UKRI SMMR MSPACE programme has been designed to drive forward implementation of climate-smart, economically viable and socially acceptable UK marine spatial planning, with a focus on the UK marine fisheries, aquaculture and conservation sectors. 

MSPACE has now published its 'early warning system', a state-of-the-art modelling analysis showing where, and for how long, these key marine sectors remain climate resilient under both medium and high emissions scenarios. MCCIP has published a summary for policy makers, and an infographic, to support its launch. Practical applications of the 'early warning system' are now being explored across UK nations, including for the East Marine Plan for England, Orkney Islands Marine Plan, Welsh Marine Plan and the Marine Plan for Northern Ireland. 

Progressing climate smart marine spatial planning will require more: 

• Transboundary co-ordination (as marine planning is a devolved matter)
• Evidence to protect blue carbon habitats
• Evidence of combined climate and non-climate pressures on marine ecosystems
• Consideration of climate change evidence during planning and licensing
• Consideration of climate change impacts when co-locating activities (e.g. wind farms and aquaculture) 

MCCIP can help support climate smart marine spatial planning through our work on:

• Building an inventory of projected climate change impacts on UK marine species and habitats, publishing new model outputs (e.g. for commercial fish and shellfish species), and developing a long-term roadmap for marine ecosystem climate models
• Developing climate smart marine spatial planning capability across the UK and UK overseas territories

The Joint Fisheries statement (JFS) set out the policies to enable the UK fisheries policy authorities (Defra, MMO and the Devolved Administrations in Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales) to prepare and publish Fisheries Management Plans (FMPs) that deliver long-term sustainability of fish stocks in UK waters. Fisheries management plans (FMPs) are evidence-based action plans, developed in collaboration with the fishing sector and other stakeholders. There are 43 in total, with the first ones now published. ​

The FMPs include national level climate actions to build the evidence base (e.g. through MCCIP and the Blue Carbon Evidence Partnership) and work across government, industry and academia to develop pathways to mitigate the effects of changing climatic conditions and to contribute to net zero. Individual FMPs identify goals and actions to contribute towards the achievement of the climate change objective in the Fisheries Act 2020, and the UK Government Net Zero ambitions.

FMPs are underpinned by a ‘strategic environmental assessment (SEA)’ to consider both significant positive and negative effects of proposed FMP goals and actions on the environment, including climate related issues.​

​Implementation of FMP climate goals and actions can be supported by:​

• Fish stock Assessments ​
• Ecosystem approach to fisheries management
• UK and devolved Net Zero fisheries assessments 
• UK Blue Carbon Evidence Partnership activities
• Actions in the latest Seafish wild capture adaptation reporting power (ARP) ​

​Related MCCIP activities can also help support implementation of FMP climate goals and actions, including:

• MCCIP rolling evidence updates, providing up-to-date, and authoritative, reviews of the UK climate change impacts evidence base for fish, fisheries and aquaculture, as well as the physical changes affecting these sectors, and the coastal and marine habitats that support them. 
• Making UK fish and shellfish climate impact models more accessible, publication of new models and developing a roadmap to improve future model outputs.

Area based management tools are used to reduce pressures from human activities, including fishing, to protect marine ecosystems. They have fixed boundaries, and stem from a wide range of national and international obligations. In the UK, they are feature-led (i.e. specific species, communities and habitats are designated within them, rather than entire ecosystems) and contribute to a UK marine protected area network. Fishery closure areas are another form of protected area but are generally not shown on MPA network maps as they may be updated, are generally seasonal, and are specific to gear types or stocks.  ​

The risk of designated features moving in, or out, of the fixed area(s) protecting them, or the ‘quality’ of a designated feature deteriorating due to reduced habitat suitability is widely recognised. The JNCC was recently commissioned by Defra to develop the evidence base around climate smart decision making in Marine Protected Areas (MPAs). Their research has found that 85-95% of listed features are climate sensitive. Case study MPA climate profiles have been published for two marine conservation zones (MCZs), one at Studland Bay on the south coast of Dorset, and the Canyons MCZ on the far south-west corner of the UK’s continental shelf. At Studland, seagrass beds are included as a designated feature, and they provide important nursery areas for commercially important fish and shellfish, such as black bream, pollack, cuttlefish, sole and plaice. These beds are assessed as a having a medium to high sensitivity to warming and heatwaves over this century, potentially leading to degradation or loss of important habitat. ​

An increasing focus is being placed on risks to blue carbon habitats in MPAs, including from the resuspension of buried carbon by trawling activity which can damage spawning habitat or marine organisms, resulting in the local loss of populations or habitat features. For example, the primary conservation feature at the the Fal and Helford Special Area for Conservation (SAC) is a maerl bed near Falmouth harbour, which provides important habitat for marine species, such as fish larvae and scallops. The site has benefitted from the removal of dredging impacts on the maerl. ​

Implementation of climate smart area-based management could be supported by:​

• Further studies to assess the local sensitivity of UK MPAs, and the wider network, to multiple climate and non-climate pressures.​

​​Related MCCIP activities can also help support climate smart area-based management ​

• Published material from the MSPACE Early warning system, SPM and infographic, and report card and review of marine biodiversity legislation in a changing climate, and adaptive management of conservation features​
• MCCIP rolling evidence updates (e.g. coastal and intertidal habitats, and shallow, shelf and deep-sea habitats)​
• Collation of existing, and publication of new model outputs showing future distribution and abundance of conservation species and habitats in UK waters.

The joint fisheries statement says:  The UK advocates a science and evidence-based approach to managing stocks and will continue to do so as it looks to agree comprehensive sharing arrangements. This will include, for example, promoting the sustainable use and protection of stocks, and facilitating international cooperation to tackle climate change.  ​

The Seafish wild capture adaptation reporting power (ARP) considers climate change risks to UK wild capture fisheries, and the potential range and scale of responses required. It considers both the domestic and international dimensions of wild capture fisheries relevant to the UK.  The international dimensions of the assessment includes case study examples for Bluefin tuna, Northeast Atlantic mackerel, and Squid fisheries.  ​

Recovering and returning bluefin tuna: Bluefin tuna in the North East Atlantic have a wide distribution and are highly migratory. Warming temperatures and changes in food availability (e.g. Mackerel) are likely to be contributing to the re-emergence of Blue fin tuna in more Northern waters. In UK waters, Bluefin tuna largely disappeared in the 1970s and before EU-exit, the UK had not been allocated a share of the total EU bluefin tuna quota. For 2023, the UK was allocated 65 tonnes of bluefin tuna quota by ICCAT, of which 39 tonnes were used to trial a new small-scale commercial fishery. Habitat suitability for bluefin tuna is expected to increase in the future in UK waters. There will be a need for catching nations to agree on future quota allocations (‘zonal attachment’) as tuna, and other commercially important species, continue to move across jurisdictions.​

Northeast Atlantic mackerel: The range of Northeast Atlantic mackerel extends across several EEZs and into international waters, presenting management challenges for how catch limits are set and monitored. The UK fleet catches more mackerel than any other species, comprising a third of the total UK catch in 2022. Climate change, either directly or through zooplankton prey availability, may be affecting mackerel growth, recruitment, and migration, with subsequent impacts on permissible levels of exploitation. Maximum Sustainable Yield (MSY) of mackerel in the Northeast Atlantic is projected to increase under future climate scenarios as habitat 'suitability’ improves over time. Catching nations will need to consider implications for quota allocation and zonal attachment, sustainable management (e.g. for MSC certification) and in the UK, the potential to increase landings for one of the most important fisheries (in value and tonnage).​

Squid: Squid are currently considered ‘non-quota’ species and their distribution has expanded dramatically across the North Sea since the 1980s. This has been partly linked to climate, as increased sea surface temperatures are known to affect growth, position of spawning grounds and migration, with subsequent impacts on permissible levels of exploitation. They now provide a valuable seasonal (summer) fishery for boats around Rockall as well as in Orkney, the Moray Firth and the Scottish east coast. Habitat suitability for squid in UK waters is expected to increase in the future, and their management is being considered in FMP development, including the Channel Demersal Non-Quota Species (NQS) and the Southern North Sea demersal non-quota species (NQS) FMPs. Future management approaches will need to consider how to avoid stock over-exploitation for rapidly expanding fisheries for non-quota species such as squid. ​

Further actions that could support the international dimensions of UK wild capture fisheries (e.g. migratory fish stocks): ​

• International science co-operation, e.g. through EU horizon projects  ​
• Science diplomacy, including early resolution on ‘rights to fish’ in international fisheries management regimes ​
• Fisheries – science partnerships to improve dialogue and use industry data to inform decision making (or closer science-industry links to understand climate driven regional changes)​
• Ensure international quota swaps / transfers​
• Engage with overseas stakeholders to support climate change adaptation​
• Ensure capacity for enhanced productivity (and quota) of whitefish fisheries at higher latitudes​
• Establish key ‘climate’ indicators, assessment frequency, and response thresholds​
• Review fisheries management to make it more flexible, including ‘relative stability'​

​Related MCCIP activities can also help support the international dimensions of UK wild capture fisheries:​

• MCCIP is collating climate change projections of UK marine ecosystem impacts, and publishing new model outputs and a roadmap, to improve the evidence base underpinning marine and fisheries management, including movement of stocks across international jurisdictions.​
• MCCIP Rolling evidence reviews, providing up-to-date, and authoritative, reviews of the UK climate change impacts evidence base for fish, and fisheries that help underpin Seafish ARP reports and annual Seafish ‘watching briefs’