§ LORD WAKEFIELD OF KENDALMy Lords, I beg leave to ask the Question which stands in my name on the Order Paper.
§ The Question was as follows:
§ To ask Her Majesty's Government what information is available of the effects on the sea-bed of the increasingly extensive practice of sea-bed dredging.
§ THE PARLIAMENTARY UNDER-SECRETARY OF STATE, DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION AND SCIENCE (LORD BELSTEAD)My Lords, there is at present little reliable information about the effects on the sea-bed of extensive dredging. Various research organisations are studying its effect, and their advice is available to Government Departments and other interested organisations.
§ LORD WAKEFIELD OF KENDALMy Lords, while thanking my noble friend for that reply may I ask whether he would not agree that it is essential that the effects of this increasing amount of dredging on the sea-bed should be looked at with great diligence? Would he not further agree that it is important that the effects on the sea-bed are not the same as have been seen on land, where we know that wrong use, or overuse, has created deserts and areas of that kind; and is it not highly desirable that, so far as is possible, the creation of the equivalent of deserts on the sea-bed should be avoided? Can the noble Lord give an assurance that if possible more intensive efforts will be made to avoid anything of this kind happening?
§ LORD BELSTEADMy Lords, the Annual Report of the Natural Environment Research Council is in the Library 684 of your Lordships' House and I think it is relevant to almost everything that the noble Lord has said in his supplementary questions. Speaking on behalf of the Government, I am sure that there will be agreement with the noble Lord about the desirability of protecting the environment under the sea, and I would ask the noble Lord, and perhaps any other noble Lords who are interested, before taking the matter further to look at the Report to which I have referred.