The 25th Royal Commission on Environmental Pollution report entitled "Turning the Tide - Addressing the Impact of Fisheries on the Marine Environment" was published in December 2005.
The Commission found that fisheries policies have failed and radical change is needed to shift their focus from commercial over-exploitation to long-term protection of the marine environment. Positive steps need to be taken to allow the environment to recover.
The report recommended a more strategic approach to managing the marine environment through planning. The RCEP recommended that marine reserves should be created to protect 30% of the seas around the UK from the environmental impacts of fishing and similar measures need to be implemented across all European seas, stating that intervention on this scale would be necessary to preserve important marine ecosystems, and to break the cycle of unrealistic quotas and diminishing fish populations.
The Government response was broadly positive and reflected in the Marine Bill put before Parliament in February 2009, which introduces a more strategic approach and provides for marine protected areas.
Both the summary and the full report are attached below.
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