§ Ms WalleyTo ask the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will make a statement on his progress towards securing endangered species status for basking sharks. [27558]
§ Mr. ClappisonThe basking shark is currently classified as "insufficiently known" in the International Union for the Conservation of Nature red data list.
The Joint Nature Conservation Committee, the Government's statutory conservation adviser, is currently considering which species should be protected under the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 as part of the third quinquennial review. The commmittee's final recommendations to the Secretary of State are due to be submitted in October 1996; it is too early to say whether the basking shark will be listed.