Written question asked by Lord Teverson (Liberal Democrat) on Friday, 6 March 2026, in the House of Lords. It was due for an answer on Friday, 20 March 2026. It was answered by Baroness Hayman of Ullock (Labour) on Wednesday, 18 March 2026 on behalf of the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs.

Fishing Vessels: Monitoring

Question: To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to resolve the recent technical issues of the Inshore Vessel Monitoring Systems (I-VMS) on English fishing vessels under 12 metres; how many, and what percentage, of relevant vessels are impacted by the technical issue; and when they plan to lay the statutory instrument to formalise the I-VMS requirement for all under-12 metre vessels in English waters.

Answer: The Marine Management Organisation (MMO) continues to work with Succorfish to resolve the issue of suspended data transmissions to the UK VMS Hub. Data continues to be transmitted from Fulcrum devices. Defra expects to lay the SI once this service issue has been resolved. In the meantime, the MMO continues to take a pragmatic approach to enforcing the existing licence condition, and all fishers who have purchased and installed an MMO type-approved IVMS device should continue to fish as normal. Defra is currently unable to disclose the number of vessels impacted by the service issue due to commercially sensitivity.

Secondary information