§ Mr. DafisTo ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what efforts are currently undertaken by his Department to deal with the conservation and sustainable management of shared seas.
§ Mr. MacleanThe United Kingdom plays a very active role in the work of the Oslo and Paris conventions, the London dumping convention, the North sea and Irish sea conferences, the International North Sea task force, the Irish Sea co-ordination group, the International Maritime Organisation, the European Community as it bears on maritime matters such as the common fisheries policy, and the small cetaceans agreement under the Bonn convention on migratory species. Most recently, it has participated actively in the drafting of the oceans chapter of Agenda 21 for the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development, and has, jointly with the Republic of Ireland, appointed a scientific co-ordinator for work to review the state of knowledge of the Irish sea.