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 make an assessment of the potential merits of introducing mandatory CCTV in fish slaughterhouses, in line with Mandatory Use of Closed Circuit Television in Slaughterhouses (England) Regulations 2018, which mandates the use of CCTV in all slaughterhouses for terrestrial farmed animals but excludes fish slaughterhouses.

The Mandatory Use of Closed Circuit Television in Slaughterhouses (England) Regulations 2018 requires slaughterhouses to provide official veterinarians with access to CCTV footage. Official veterinarians will view CCTV footage daily. As there are no official veterinarians or routine animal welfare inspection programmes in farmed fish processing premises CCTV footage, were it to be mandated, would not be viewed.

Any allegations of welfare or health issues are investigated by the Animal and Plant Health Agency and Cefas, and where there are non-compliances with the regulations, appropriate action is taken.

As part of the Action Plan on Animal Welfare we are considering general improvements that could be made to the welfare of farmed fish at the time of killing. We have also asked the Animal Welfare Committee (AWC) to update its 2014 Opinion on the welfare of farmed fish at the time of killing and look forward to receiving AWC’s updated advice later this year.