Debate contribution: Fisheries, Aquaculture and Water Environment Bill: Second Stage

Debate contribution by Mr Tom Buchanan on 30 June 2026.

MLA: Mr Tom Buchanan
Party at the time: Democratic Unionist Party
Date: 30 June 2026
Type: Debate contribution
Business: Executive Committee Business
Heading: Fisheries, Aquaculture and Water Environment Bill: Second Stage
Assembly identifier: Official Report component 5653346

Text

I welcome the opportunity to say a few words at Second Stage of the Fisheries, Aquaculture and Water Environment Bill. It is overdue legislation, which touches on three interlinked systems: commercial fisheries; growing the aquaculture sector; and the wider water environment, with an ambition to modernise regulation while supporting sustainable economic activity in coastal and inland communities. Northern Ireland's fisheries and aquaculture industries are facing pressure from sources such as stock levels in the Irish Sea and rising compliance costs for small boats. The Bill is an opportunity to bring coherence to a patchwork of outdated provisions and create more of a statutory footing for regulators and the industry. I note that quite a bit of work in the Bill falls to the Department with regard to monitoring, enforcement and scientific assessment, which will require adequate resourcing. The Bill must strike the right balance between encouraging investment and protecting sensitive freshwater habitats. With many fishing families operating small businesses, any new licensing or reporting requirements must be fair and proportionate. Regulation to protect the environment must do so without crushing the livelihoods of our small fishing industry. It must also support community-based fisheries, while ensuring that local voices are heard in licensing and environmental decision-making, recognising that environmental protection and economic sustainability are not competing goals but go hand in hand. Hydro schemes and hydropower to produce clean energy that will contribute to decarbonisation targets must be catered for in the Bill, with a clear vision for their future expansion. Those are not abstract infrastructure projects but local assets that generate clean renewable energy while supporting employment in rural areas. Across our waterways, small-scale hydro schemes create local skilled employment, support local supply chains, generate stable renewable energy and provide long-term economic benefit to rural areas that often struggle to attract investment. Those schemes show what is possible when environmental protection and economic development work hand in hand. However, the Bill must give hydro operators clarity and confidence, through a sustainable licensing framework with long-term regulatory certainty, to enable them to invest and upgrade, modernise and improve fish pass technology. Hydro schemes are already delivering for rural communities, and with the right vision in the Bill, they can continue to deliver for many decades to come. The future of hydropower in Northern Ireland must be one of balance and clean energy generation alongside thriving river ecosystems. While many of the new powers simply clarify or regularise existing rules, there is more work to be done on other areas of the Bill. I look forward to the Bill's scrutiny at Committee Stage and hope that it will result in something deliverable that will have the intended effect.

446 words. Text as published by the Northern Ireland Assembly.

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