Research and analysis

Strategic environmental assessment environmental report – non-technical summary

Published 8 February 2024

Non-technical summary

The Channel demersal non-quota species (NQS) fisheries management plan (FMP) has been prepared to meet the requirements of the Fisheries Act 2020. It sets out the policies and proposed measures Defra will use to manage demersal NQS fishing activity in the Channel, so stocks are harvested within sustainable levels. Alongside these measures, the Channel demersal NQS FMP also sets out management approaches to help support wider social, economic and environmental aspects of the fishery.

This environmental report (ER) has been produced in accordance with the Environmental Assessment of Plans and Programmes Regulations 2004 (SEA Regulations 2004). The following issues (from Schedule 2, paragraph 6 of the SEA Regulations 2004) were scoped into the assessment:

• biodiversity
• fauna
• flora
• geology and sediments (soil)
• water
• climatic factors
• cultural heritage
• landscape and seascape

This assessment focuses on how the policies and actions in the Channel demersal NQS FMP could give rise to both significant positive and negative environmental effects. The findings of this assessment have been used to inform the development of the FMP.  

The assessment was conducted against a baseline that primarily used existing evidence on the state of the marine environment set out in the updated UK Marine Strategy (UKMS) Part 1, published in 2019. Additional sources of evidence were used to establish the current status of the environment in relation to issues not covered by the UKMS, such as climatic factors. The historical impact of fishing activity on the marine environment has been considered part of the baseline.

This report sets out the plans, programmes and environmental protection objectives, both international and domestic, that Defra considers relevant to the Channel demersal NQS FMP.

The report considers and acknowledges the existing environmental effects of fishing for demersal non-quota species using towed gear and nets in the Channel on those issues scoped into this assessment, in relation to Marine Protected Areas (MPAs), the UKMS descriptors and the wider environment. The potential positive and negative environmental effects of the FMP’s policies and proposed measures, alone and in-combination, have also been assessed.   

The strategic environmental assessment (SEA) has concluded that beyond the direct impact on targeted stocks, the fishery has an impact on the wider marine environment, primarily through seabed disturbance (from mobile demersal gears) and bycatch of unwanted and protected species (mainly from drift and fixed nets). Actions have been proposed to investigate these impacts and to use the resulting evidence to develop robust mitigation strategies. The contribution of demersal NQS fishing to climate change related issues and its interactions with cultural heritage, through structural damage for example, were also identified as potential impacts.  

The Channel demersal NQS FMP has considered these impacts and sets out proposals to monitor and, where required, introduce mitigation to address the impacts.

The assessment of the policies, measures and actions did not identify any negative effects that posed a significant risk to the environment. The policies, measures and actions will, where appropriate, be developed to avoid any potential negative effects identified by the assessment process. The environmental effects of implementing the FMP’s policies and measures will also be monitored to identify unforeseen adverse effects at an early stage, so that appropriate remedial action can be undertaken.

This assessment recommends that the Channel demersal NQS FMP should consider the following additional points.

1. Future iterations of the FMP should consider how to  develop the cultural heritage of each fishery, and how fisheries management can contribute to reducing potential negative interactions with marine heritage assets.
2. Future iterations of the FMP should consider how fisheries management can contribute to reducing potential negative interactions with submerged prehistoric landscapes or seascapes.
3. The FMP would benefit from more specific detail on how it will interact with Marine Plans. Describing how the FMP could positively or negatively interact with this programme would improve the in-combination assessment (a component of the SEA which evaluates the potential impacts of the plan in combination with other plans or projects).

Read the full environmental report for the Channel demersal NQS FMP.