The NEF said demand could be met with better managed seas. Ministers cited the UK's call for sustainable fishing.

The UK imports more than 101,000 tonnes of cod, worth £372m, and 60,000 tonnes of haddock, worth £156m, in a year, the majority of which comes from outside the EU, according to figures from 2010.

It is reliant on countries such as Iceland, Norway and China for a large share of traditional British fish, the 2012 Fish Dependence report said.

The situation has improved since last year, when the UK effectively ran out of fish more than a month earlier than in 2012, but is largely unchanged over the past decade.