Hello all!
Following last autumn’s budget, which set government expenditure for the 2025/26 financial year, we’ve been involved in the latest spending review process, which will set budgets for future years.
We’ve been working through our research and development priorities for 2025/26 and sharing some of the outputs of the work we delivered last year. We held a dedicated hybrid science event in March to share some of the exciting research projects that are helping to address key evidence gaps in FMPs. The event also explored our future work plans and opportunities to collaborate.
We’ve reviewed responses to the latest FMP consultations and are making changes to the final plans ahead of publication. Thank you to everyone who took the time to respond. Work is also underway to draft a summary of responses as well as the government’s response to those consultations. Both will be published alongside the final FMPs later this year.
Here's a snapshot of some of the other work:
- Cuttlefish Action Plan- The Channel demersal non-quota FMP published in December 2023, highlighted the cuttlefish fishery as a data poor species that has no formal ICES stock assessment. The MMO has now published the Cuttlefish Fishery Action Plan.
- Celtic Sea and Western Channel demersal FMP- The MMO held a workshop with the FMP working group in Plymouth to gather feedback and refine the draft policies. This was followed up by testing with stakeholders at drop-in sessions across the southwest, an eNGO event, and an open online session.
- King scallops in the Channel- we’re considering how best to progress a multi-year strategy on managing King scallops in the Channel with the European Commission. This follows a workshop held last September. The report is due to be published shortly.
- Crab management pilot in the southwest- we’re exploring how locally tailored management measures can support sustainable crab fisheries. The MMO has been drafting a trial options paper, working with Defra to assess these options in more detail. Quayside engagement events will be organised in the SW soon to test the trial options with stakeholders. Defra will host an information session (date to be confirmed) to explain how the FMP measures are being developed in accordance with all relevant legislation - keep an eye on the blog for information on how you can get involved.
- Whelk management- we’ve been considering how to develop a management approach building on the work of the Whelk Management Group (WMG). The Whelk Implementation Group, the ‘doing’ arm of the WMG has also made a promising start on the delivery of the whelk FMP wider objectives.
- Bass Management Group- The second meeting recently took place, and a post will follow on this soon.
We’re looking forward to sharing more as each area progresses, - keep checking in or subscribe to get notifications of new posts.
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