§ Mr. CotterTo ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions what steps he will take to improve the monitoring and regulation of shipping movements in the Bristol channel. [2638]
§ Ms Glenda JacksonThe marine Safety Agency will continue to keep under review the need for additional routeing measures around the United Kingdom coast through its programme of maritime traffic surveys. however, the Bristol channel was not an area of concern in Lord Donaldson's report "Safer Ships, Cleaner Seas" and there are no immediate plans for a traffic survey.
A comprehensive database—the COAST Ship Traffic Database—indicates an average of 22 merchant shipping movements daily through the Bristol channel comprising four tankers, 17 other cargo ships and one ferry. This is a low density compared to the 440 daily shipping movements in the busy Dover strait.
Ships in the Bristol channel, as elsewhere, must navigate in accordance with the detailed Rules of the International Regulations for Preventing Collisions at Sea.