§ Mr. SheermanTo ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what action her Department is taking to prevent the accidental deaths of(a) dolphins and (b) porpoises in UK fishing activities. [160237]
§ Mr. BradshawThe Government have funded a number of research projects to identify fisheries in which accidental deaths of dolphin and porpoise bycatch occurs and to develop and trial measures to reduce this bycatch. This work has identified in particular a dolphin bycatch problem in the offshore pair trawl fishery for bass. Trials of an escape grid mechanism to reduce this bycatch are currently taking place. Work has also identified that acoustic devices known as pingers are effective in reducing bycatch of harbour porpoises in fixed gear fisheries.
Building on this and other research work this Department, along with Devolved Administrations, published in March 2003 the UK Small Cetacean Bycatch Response Strategy which made a number of recommendations for measures to reduce bycatch. As EU measures will be most effective in reducing bycatch in community waters, the implementation of this strategy will need to take account of the outcome of current discussions on European Commission proposals to reduce bycatch. I welcome the Commission proposals and I am looking for their early implementation.
§ Mr. SheermanTo ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what action her Department is taking to support the work of the Natural History Museum in monitoring(a) porpoise and (b) dolphin deaths. [160238]
§ Mr. BradshawThe Department provides funding for the Natural History Museum's Cetacean (and Turtle) Strandings Scheme, which monitors and investigates porpoise and dolphin strandings around the UK. The work is carried out in partnership with the Institute of Zoology and the Scottish Agricultural College.
Defra and its predecessors have supported this work since 1990 and my Department is currently providing the Natural History Museum with funding of £1,610,966.00 for the scheme (for the period 2000–01 to 2005–06). This brings our total support over the last 10 years to over £2.7 million.
The work provides valuable information on causes of, and trends in, cetacean mortality around the British Isles. It involves maintaining records of stranded cetaceans and analysing tissue and bone samples to enable their physiology and reaction to various pollutants and chemicals to be assessed. The work has developed a number of methodologies which have 159W provided significant advances in the study of cetaceans. The maintenance of a tissue bank provides a useful source of material for many other organisations and individuals undertaking research into marine mammals. Data gleaned from this research have also been used within Defra to examine the impact on marine life of agricultural pesticides run-off, and to examine the impacts of pollutants on marine mammals.
Investigation of cetacean strandings under this scheme contributes towards the UK's systems of monitoring bycatch under the requirements of the EC Habitats Directive, and to our commitments to study cetacean strandings under the Agreement on the Conservation of Small Cetaceans of the Baltic and North Seas (ASCOBANS).
§ Mr. SheermanTo ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what action her Department is taking to implement the EU Habitats Directive in respect of preventing fishing fleets from killing(a) dolphins and (b) porpoises. [160239]
§ Mr. BradshawThe Habitats Directive (Council Directive 92/43/EEC) requires member states to undertake surveillance of the conservation status of cetaceans, to monitor the incidental capture and killing of cetaceans and, in the light of information gathered, to take further research or conservation measures as required to ensure incidental capture and killing does not have a significant negative impact on the species. The Department implements these requirements through support for numerous research, data collection and surveillance projects.
The UK was one of several EU member states that provided funding for the collaborative Small Cetacean Abundance in the North Sea (SCANS) survey in 1994. The Department is now committing further funds (£275,000) to support another such survey (entitled SCANS II) to repeat and extend the work carried out in 1994.
We have also provided funding amounting to over £2.7 million over 10 years for the Natural History Museum's long-term research into cetacean strandings in the UK. In addition, we have commissioned a number of specific research projects during the last decade monitoring bycatch levels in specific fisheries and researching potential measures to reduce bycatch. Last year the Department committed a further £1 million to more research in this area.
In 2003 the Department also produced the UK Small Cetacean Bycatch Response Strategy consultation paper. One of the recommendations contained in the Strategy in respect of the Habitats Directive is for the UK to develop an expanded bycatch monitoring scheme to assess levels of bycatch in UK fisheries at a statistically valid level. We shall now consider how best to develop such a scheme to also take into account recent European Commission proposals for the reduction of cetacean bycatch, including requirements for monitoring.