Asked by: Anna Gelderd (Labour - South East Cornwall)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how many vessels registered to ports in South East Cornwall constituency use (a) bottom trawls and (b) other bottom towed gear.
Answered by Daniel Zeichner - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
UK fishing vessels are registered by port of administration. The nearest port of administration to this constituency is Plymouth, to which 330 fishing vessels were registered as of 1 June 2025.
Asked by: Anna Gelderd (Labour - South East Cornwall)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what recent progress his Department has made on meeting the good environmental status indicators set out in the report entitled Marine Strategy Part One, published in October 2019.
Answered by Emma Hardy - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs published a UK-wide consultation on 20 June this year, which details the latest assessment on the state of UK seas and progress toward Good Environmental Status. This follows publication of the updated UK Marine Strategy Programme of Measures in January this year, which sets out measures for achieving GES.
Asked by: Anna Gelderd (Labour - South East Cornwall)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether his Department is taking steps to help support seagrass restoration programmes to scale-up.
Answered by Emma Hardy - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Defra is supporting the scaling up of seagrass restoration programmes by identifying and overcoming barriers.
The Environment Agency with partners is working to restore 15% of saltmarsh, seagrass and native oyster reef in England by 2043 through the Restoring Meadow, Marsh and Reef (ReMeMaRe) programme. Defra have boosted the capacity of ReMeMaRe by funding a programme office, which is supporting a pipeline of practical restoration projects.
The annual ReMeMaRe Conference gives partners from across the country an opportunity to engage with and learn from each other. ReMeMaRe has also worked with partners to produce restoration guidance and map restoration opportunities. It is also funding the development of an estuarine and coastal restoration platform, which will enhance collaboration opportunities for partners, aiming to scale up restoration activity on the ground.
Asked by: Anna Gelderd (Labour - South East Cornwall)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether his Department plans to merge the proposed Nature Restoration Fund with the Marine Recovery Fund.
Answered by Mary Creagh - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Marine Recovery Fund is being established as a voluntary mechanism to deliver strategic compensation for offshore wind developers.
The Nature Restoration Fund will offer a new way for developers to discharge existing environmental obligations related to protected sites and species, using resources strategically to maximise positive outcomes for nature.
Asked by: Anna Gelderd (Labour - South East Cornwall)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how the proposed Nature Restoration Fund will interact with the Marine Recovery Fund.
Answered by Mary Creagh - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Marine Recovery Fund is being established as a voluntary mechanism to deliver strategic compensation for offshore wind developers.
The Nature Restoration Fund will offer a new way for developers to discharge existing environmental obligations related to protected sites and species, using resources strategically to maximise positive outcomes for nature.
Asked by: Anna Gelderd (Labour - South East Cornwall)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment his Department has made of the potential impact of (a) bans on offshore bottom-towed gear on displacement of fishing to inshore grounds and (b) that displacement on (i) small-scale and (ii) inshore fishers in South East Cornwall constituency.
Answered by Daniel Zeichner - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
It is likely that fishing activity will be displaced as a result of the management of our Marine Protected Areas (MPAs), but there are many uncertainties. Decisions on the extent of restrictions on bottom trawling in offshore MPAs will be made following the closure of the consultation that opened on 9 June.
Asked by: Anna Gelderd (Labour - South East Cornwall)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment he has made of the potential impact of his Department's policies on protecting (a) global forests and (b) the rights of (i) indigenous peoples and (ii) local communities.
Answered by Mary Creagh - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The UK strongly supports global efforts to protect forests, including advocating for the international commitment to halt and reverse forest loss and land degradation by 2030, while supporting livelihoods and economic development.
We recognise the urgency of taking action to ensure that UK consumption of forest risk commodities is not driving deforestation. In 2022, UK consumption was associated with 35.6 thousand hectares of deforestation globally. We are considering the critical guardianship provided by Indigenous Peoples and Local Communities in protecting forests as well as the importance of safeguarding customary tenure rights in developing our approach, which we will set out in due course.
In October 2024, at COP16 in Cali, Colombia, I launched the Principles for Inclusive, Gender-Responsive and Locally-Led Biodiversity Action. These were developed by Defra in collaboration with global stakeholders to guide governments, donors, NGOs, and others in supporting biodiversity efforts that are inclusive, locally-led, and gender-responsive.
Asked by: Anna Gelderd (Labour - South East Cornwall)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps his Department is taking to help reduce the number of fly-tipping incidents in South East Cornwall constituency.
Answered by Mary Creagh - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Fly-tipping is a serious crime which blights local communities and the environment, and we appreciate the difficulty and cost that it poses to landowners.
Local councils are usually best placed to tackle fly-tipping in their areas, and they have a range of enforcement powers to help them do so. These include fixed penalty notices of up to £1000, seizing and crushing of vehicles and prosecution action. We encourage councils to make good use of their enforcement powers and are taking steps to develop new enforcement guidance. We have also announced a review of council powers to seize and crush vehicles of fly-tippers, to identify how we could help them make better use of this tool.
In our manifesto we committed to forcing fly-tippers to clean up the mess that they have created as part of a crackdown on anti-social behaviour. We will provide further details on this commitment in due course.
In the meantime, Defra continue to chair the National Fly-Tipping Prevention Group through which we work with a wide range of stakeholders, such as local authorities and the National Farmers Union, to share good practice on preventing fly-tipping, including on private land. Various practical tools are available from their webpage which is available here.
Asked by: Anna Gelderd (Labour - South East Cornwall)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, if he will set out the role (a) seagrasses and (b) marine nature-based solutions will have in his Department's net zero plans.
Answered by Emma Hardy - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Government has set out a clear mission to make Britain a Clean Energy Superpower and accelerate progress towards Net Zero. Achieving this ambition within Defra sectors requires enhanced decarbonisation efforts alongside strengthened nature-based solutions.
The Net Zero pathway for Carbon Budgets 4-6 includes nature-based measures aimed at protecting existing ecosystems, restoring degraded landscapes, and creating or sustainably managing new ecosystems. Defra is actively exploring the role of marine nature-based solutions, such as seagrass and saltmarsh restoration, to deliver both carbon sequestration and biodiversity benefits.
Through the UK Blue Carbon Evidence Partnership (UKBCEP) Defra is working with Devolved Governments and DESNZ to address key blue carbon research questions, including assessing their carbon storage potential. The UKBCEP has established a working group and earlier this year Defra published a roadmap to help to address the evidence gaps preventing the inclusion of coastal wetlands in the UK Greenhouse Gas Inventory.
Asked by: Anna Gelderd (Labour - South East Cornwall)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment he has made of the potential impact of seagrass decline on (a) climate change, (b) fisheries and (c) the rate of coastal erosion.
Answered by Emma Hardy - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Seagrass habitats offer a range of benefits to people and nature. They store and sequester carbon, support a variety of fish species and help prevent coastal erosion. These benefits would diminish were the habitats to decline in future.
To improve our understanding of the impact of climate change on marine and coastal ecosystems such as seagrass, Defra are supporting the Marine Climate Change Impacts Partnership (MCCIP). MCCIP synthesise the latest evidence on climate change impacts and predicted trends and publish evidence updates on topics including fisheries, coastal erosion and have previously published a report card specifically on seagrass habitats.
Natural England published their “Definition of Favourable Conservation Status for seagrass beds” in 2023. This report outlined seagrass habitat status accounting for historical decline, future pressures – including as a result of climate change – as well as listing beneficial functions seagrass beds provide including for a number of fish species.