Marine and Coastal Access Bill [HL]

This amendment deals with the by-laws that the IFCAs can make. In particular, it deals with what will be one of the most contentious by-laws but also the one that will make real the efforts that IFCAs will have to make to reach their conservation objectives: the by-law in Clause 152 that enables an IFCA to limit the number of permits that it issues. Those are the permits that allow exploitation of the resources—in other words, fishing. My purpose in tabling the amendment is to find out the Government’s thinking on a fair way to limit them. I presume that the Government will have to issue guidance on the matter, or will they leave it up to the individual IFCAs? The Minister might say that this is not going to be such a contentious issue. However, I think that it will be a much more difficult issue than it is now because, as marine conservation zones are created, often inshore, the inshore fleet that operates from that area will have to go further to find its fishing area. The Minister might at first glance have thought that fair distribution might be by auctioning off the permits, for example. However, that might not be at all fair because the inshore fishing fleet in that area might not be able to buy them. Alternatively, perhaps it would be fair, because others would need more fuel to get to those fishing grounds. One might decide that the person who has the whole of their fishing life in front of them—the younger fishermen—should have a better stab at the limited number that there will be. My purpose in tabling the amendment is to see what the Government have in mind when it comes to the distribution, bearing in mind that the pressure on the resources to be exploited will be very different from now because of the conservation effort. The creation of marine conservation zones will inevitably mean that there is a much reduced number of places that can be fished, possibly of times of year when the fishing can take place and possibly of the sorts of gear that can be used. A huge variety of restrictions will come in over a large number of what have been traditional fishing grounds. I accept that fishing may still take place in some of them, but to me this by-law in the clause is likely to be one of the most contentious unless there is a clear way in which provision for fairness can be made. I beg to move.