§ Ms WalleyTo ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what steps she is taking to ensure that fishing for tuna does not endanger the lives of other sea creatures. [60781]
§ Mr. MorleyDuring the United Kingdom's Presidency of the EU in 1998 we achieved the adoption of a ban on the use of drift nets in the tuna fishery. The ban came into effect on 1 January of this year. We look carefully at information relating to cetacean by catch in various fisheries. Research sponsored by DEFRA into the new designs of trawl nets to allow the escape of marine mammals may have benefits for the tuna trawl fishery in due course.