We took the UK government to court for overfishing

Despite 800 pages of evidence being put before the court, we lost the case. Blue Marine has now reviewed the judgment with its legal team. We consider it weak, full of contradictions and believe it should be appealed. 

The judgment condones perverse decisions, such as granting fishers a quota equivalent to the entire spawning population of the Celtic Sea cod even though the scientific advice was for a zero catch.  

In the words of Charles Clover, co-founder of Blue Marine: ‘Either the Fisheries Act 2020 is a very bad law, or it is not being applied. Ministers are supposed to balance out a series of excellent objectives in the Act, but we don’t believe this is being done properly.’  

Dr Tom Appleby, Blue Marine’s head of legal affairs, said: ‘This year, fishing quotas for 54 per cent of species failed the government’s metrics for sustainability. These decisions, taken year on year, have collapsed cod, whiting and now pollack – and are pushing mackerel, one of our last staple stocks, in the same direction. We have lost nearly 30 per cent of the jobs in the fishing industry since 2016, as a direct result of decisions like these. Fishing jobs in the UK are down from 8,900 to 6,500. Blue Marine is a charity and must act in the public interest. Our role is to protect the environment and the fishing communities that depend on it. Without fish, there are no fishers. We have no doubt that it is our duty to appeal.’ 

In 2024, the Blue Legal team brought an action against the UK government for determining its share of the international fishing quota at a level that exceeds scientific advice, and without any appropriate socio-economic justification.  

We believed this was unlawful under post-Brexit UK fisheries law, and a hearing date was set for March 2025. Our lawyers were Richard Buxton and Co, Brendon Moorhouse and David Wolff KC – leaders in environmental litigation of this nature.  

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