HC Deb 24 July 1985 vol 83 cc554-5W
Mr. William Ross

asked the Secretary of State for the Environment what information he has as to the number of wildfowl other than swans that have died as a result of eating lead fishing weights; and as to the trend in such deaths in recent years.

Mr. Waldegrave

There is little existing evidence to suggest that waterfowl other than swans are affected by ingesting lead from fishing weights.

Mr. William Ross

asked the Secretary of State for the Environment how many swans are estimated to have died as a result of eating lead fishing weights in each of the last five years; what were the comparable figures for the years 1970 to 1975 and 1960 to 1965; and to what factors the variations are attributed.

Mr. Waldegrave

The Nature Conservancy Council's report on lead poisoning in swans, produced in 1981, estimated that 3,000–3,500 swan deaths annually were due to lead poisoning. A report to the Nature Conservancy Council working party on swans in January 1985 estimated the number of deaths annually to be between 3,370 and 4,190. The later figure is higher because the increased number of post-mortem examinations carried out since 1981 suggest a higher death rate should be used in the calculations. I regret that there are no comparable figures for earlier years.