Thank you for contacting me about the impact of the UK's decision to leave the European Union on the UK's fishing industry.
Britain has a world-class fishing industry with a proud heritage, and I am determined to ensure that its future will be equally bright. Following the vote to leave the EU, the Government is committed to withdrawing from the Common Fisheries Policy and putting a new fisheries regime in place. This will include withdrawing from the London Fisheries Convention, to provide our neighbours with complete legal certainty and clarity during the negotiations.
I am pleased that Ministers have already committed to ensuring that the whole of the food sector has a strong voice in the exit negotiations, and in establishing our new domestic policies. They will continue to work closely with the industry and other key stakeholders to develop these new arrangements.
The UK continues to be bound by international law, including the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, which gives coastal states rights and responsibilities over that area of the sea defined as their Exclusive Economic Zone and the resources within it. In particular, the Government will meet its commitments to maintain sustainable fisheries and the ban on the economically and environmentally-damaging practice of discards. Within the EU, the UK played a leading role in securing this important reform.
The vote to leave the EU gives us an unparalleled chance to design policies that are tailored to the needs of the UK, rather than 28 different countries. I know that the Government will do all it can to make a success of Brexit for our fishing industry.
Thank you again for taking the time to contact me.