Environment and Climate Change Committee Report: An Extraordinary Challenge: Restoring 30 per cent of our Land and Sea by 2030

Baroness Boycott Excerpts

Wednesday 11th September 2024 Grand Committee

[Baroness Boycott (CB)]

My Lords, I congratulate hugely the noble Lord, Lord Goldsmith, on many things, including his speech; whether it overran seems irrelevant to me because it was a real barnstormer and a fantastic challenge to this Government to step up to the plate. I think that everyone who has made the effort to get here this afternoon probably agreed with every word of it.

I was thrilled to be a part of the committee chaired by the noble Baroness, Lady Parminter. She was a fantastic chair and hers was a wonderful speech; along with the speeches from the noble Baroness, Lady Young, and the noble Lord, Lord Goldsmith, it set out the big picture domestically to do with the land, our agenda and our voice. I am going to change the mood here completely and talk about something specific that I think the Government could do right now and do easily: bottom trawling. This was referenced by the noble Baroness, Lady Parminter, but I am going to deep dive into it a little more—in quite short time, I hope.

Bottom trawling is a widespread industrial practice that involves dragging heavy nets, large metal doors and chains across the sea-floor in order to catch fish. It is that simple. It is very efficient for the fishing industry, because it scoops up simply everything in its path. The fishermen then haul it up, decide what they want and chuck the rest back into the ocean. Needless to say, an incredible amount is rejected, but let us try to look at it from another point of view. The ocean floor is not a barren zone. It is home to myriad species of animals, fish, plants, corals, sponges and other living things. If only we, as human beings, were able to imagine that beings other than ourselves have agency, thoughts, lives and rights, on a completely different physical scale from ours, but are also worthy of respect; if only we understood their place within our human planetary existence. Bottom trawling destroys homes. It destroys these beings’ environment. For them, it is like being in London, in the Blitz, every single night.

Leaving aside what might be dismissed as a sentimental point of view about whether the creatures down there have any rights, let us think about this from an environmental point of view. In much the same way as soil, the bottom of the ocean secures our right to be on this planet. When you bottom trawl, sediment is flung into the water in a huge, swirling cloud. Scientists call this rototilling; it is similar to deep ploughing, which tears through the mycorrhizal structures in soil and damages everything as it goes. We all know what that has done to the quality of our soil—it has been well debated and well agreed—and Governments everywhere now recognise that we have to stop this kind of farming; indeed, as was referenced by the noble Baroness, Lady Young, we have to look for nature-friendly farming that protects this hugely vital asset. Quite honestly, the sea-floor is absolutely nothing different.

Tearing it up has consequences that are equally serious to those of tearing up the soil and allowing it to be flushed away. Resuspended sediment—in other words, the stuff that is chucked into the sea and has lain there for many thousands of years—can change the entire chemistry of the water. It changes the nutrient levels and lowers the light levels; inevitably, it therefore reduces the photosynthesis that ocean-dwelling plants can carry out. Such plants form the basis of the entire food system in the ocean, not just for us but for all the fish up the chain. The sediment is then carried away by currents, often far away, which destroys any fish’s food system. All species are inevitably affected. Can you imagine your small town suddenly being annihilated by the equivalent of a 200-foot tank?

What to do? Nationally, we could look to curb this industry, but here, where we are attempting to preserve 30% of the ocean, we must ban bottom trawling in MPAs. I think that we should ban it everywhere, but we could start by saying, “No more”, to this one. I simply do not understand how licences have been given to fishermen to fish in these areas. The only answer that makes any sense is greed and industry pressure on local MPs and government officials to allow these huge fishing companies to twist the rules—and they are not in our favour.

If we stop it, we will get some quick benefits. Marine life acts as a natural defence. It stores blue carbon, and it forms the basic infrastructure of how low-impact fisheries can thrive. In addition, the carbon emissions are offset and restored through natural carbon stores in increased oxygen production. The most astonishing fact is that the total weight of fish found in a fully protected area is on average a staggering 670% greater.

Banning bottom trawling would deliver benefits worth between £2.57 billion and £3.5 billion to the UK economy—according to Oceana, which is about the only figure we have—within 20 years. However, despite how sensible that sounds, 33,000 hours of suspected bottom trawling took place in 2023 in MPAs, where seabed features have hundreds of years of lifespan but were trashed in minutes. It is clear that the by-laws are inadequate. Of 13 sites designated as MPAs, only four are fully protected because many bylaws protect only specific bits, which allows bottom trawling elsewhere. As I said, that kicks up the sediment, which affects everything. Because of the inefficiency of the design and laws, fishermen are encouraged to cut straight through the MPAs because they have to spend more on petrol to get around them.

As the noble Baroness, Lady Parminter, said, the currently higher protected marine areas cover only 0.42% of English waters. Quite frankly, that is pathetic. They should cover at least 10%, and even that would be pathetic. When will the Government publish strict criteria setting out clearly what counts towards 30 by 30 at sea, including how that is going to be managed? We might not be able to see under the sea but that does not mean it does not count towards the health and well-being of every single one of us. Like our soil, our planetary health depends on it.