Fisheries: about us / what we do
The UK has an important sea fish industry with one of the largest fishing fleets and fish processing industries in Europe. Freshwater fisheries is also a major leisure industry in our rural areas. In the UK Defra is the lead department for fisheries and so our Directorate has a major role in EU and international negotiations, as well as in managing and implementing fisheries policy.
Sustainability lies at the heart of Defra's aim and objectives. Sustainable use of fisheries - economically, environmentally and socially - is central to our work. It is vital both to secure the future for our fisheries industries and to contribute to national and global environmental objectives.
Defra as an organisation has identified six core objectives towards which all parts of the department are working:
- To protect and improve the rural, urban, marine and global environment and conserve and enhance biodiversity, and to lead integration of these with other policies across Government and internationally.
- To enhance opportunity and tackle social exclusion in rural areas.
- To promote a sustainable, competitive and safe food supply chain which meets consumers' requirements.
- To promote sustainable, diverse, modern and adaptable farming through domestic and international actions.
- To promote sustainable management and prudent use of natural resources domestically and internationally.
- To protect the public's interest in relation to environmental impacts and health, and ensure high standards of animal health and welfare.
The work of the Marine and Fisheries directorate relates directly to all except objective 4.
Fisheries business plan
The Marine and Fisheries Directorate business plan sets out the priorities and key activities for the Marine and Fisheries Directorate over the 2007/08 financial year and includes some useful information on the fishing industry.
- Marine and Fisheries business plan, 2007-08 [PDF] (1.69 MB - NB large file)
Newsletter: Fishing Focus
- Fishing Focus Issue 10 - Spring 2008 [PDF] (635 KB)
- Fishing Focus Supplement - Marine Fisheries Science 2007-08 [PDF] (274 KB)
You can read the previous issues of Fishing Focus at the following links:
- Fishing Focus Issue 9 - Winter 2007/08 [PDF] (537 KB)
- Fishing Focus Issue 8 - Autumn 2007 [PDF] (471 KB)
- Fishing Focus Issue 7 - Summer 2007 [PDF] (307 KB)
- Fishing Focus: Issue 6 - Spring 2007 [PDF] (307 KB)
- Fishing Focus Supplement: Marine Fisheries Science 2006/2007 [PDF] (158 KB)
Fishing Focus is a joint publication from Defra and the Marine Fisheries Agency (MFA) and aims to improve communications with stakeholders.
In Charting a New Course, Defra’s action plan to deliver the policies in Securing the Benefits which is the UK Fisheries Administrations' response to the Prime Minister’s Strategy Unit 'Net Benefits' report, Defra made a commitment to improve its communication with stakeholders. Fishing Focus is one way of keeping people with an interest in marine fisheries up-to-date with our activities and inviting their views to feed into our work.
Copies of Fishing Focus are available at MFA port offices (see www.mfa.gov.uk for addresses).
Defra and MFA welcome feedback on each issue of the newsletter. If you would like to comment, please email fishingfocus@defra.gsi.gov.uk
Links
Further information is available on our Help page about downloading or reading Adobe Acrobat [PDF] documents.
Page last modified: 24 April 2008
Page published: 17 January 2005