Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what steps he is taking to ensure that no fishing boats operate within the British Indian Ocean Territory Marine Protected Area.

The Blue Belt Ocean Shield Programme provides maritime domain awareness capabilities to tackle Illegal, Unreported and Unregulated (IUU) fishing activities within BIOT. This includes extensive, risk-based, remote satellite surveillance, tasking of satellite imagery to detect illegal activity, frequent intelligence support and providing training for fisheries patrols. The Programme also provides regional coordination to tackle IUU fishing through relevant Regional Fisheries Management Organisations and Flag States (Including bilateral engagement with relevant Flag States), and comprehensive compliance and enforcement frameworks to deter IUU activity.