§ Mr. BakerTo ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions what plans he has to assess the impact of small, fast, personal watercraft on the behaviour and welfare of small cetaceans; and if he will make a statement. [102254]
§ Mr. MullinThe issue of the use of personal watercraft was covered in the report of the Inter-Departmental Working Party on the Review of Byelaw Powers for the Coast, published by DETR in October 1998. This discussion paper highlighted a number of gaps in the coverage of existing byelaw powers, most notably with regard to protecting the environment. The working party recommended that local authorities should be given a general power to regulate coastal recreation activities which are outside the responsibility of other relevant authorities, for the purpose of protecting the wider environment. In addition, harbour authorities are able to seek harbour revision orders for environmental purposes. We have given a long-term commitment to introduce legislation to take forward those recommendations in the review which require changes to the law.
Since 1990 the UK has funded the UK Cetaceans Strandings Investigation Project, under which post mortems are carried out on stranded cetaceans to determine cause of death. There is no indication that collision with personal watercraft is a significant cause of death of cetaceans. However the Government are aware that recreational activities, including the use of personal watercraft, has the potential for disturbing cetaceans. As a result of this the Government published in March 1999 the guidelines "Minimising disturbance to cetaceans from recreation at sea". As highlighted in the species action plans for the harbour porpoise and for small dolphins, these guidelines are scheduled for review next year, and account will be taken of the increased use of personal watercraft.