Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, pursuant to the Answer of 19 March 2021 to Question 167317, what assessment he has made of the (a) adequacy and (b) accuracy of the population level assessments of porpoise and dolphins upon which the assessments he refers to in his Answer are made.
The UK Government funds a comprehensive and well-respected bycatch monitoring programme which provides essential observer data on incidents of cetacean (dolphins, porpoises and whales) bycatch. Information on bycatch rates, broken down by gear type and area are publicly available:
2011 – 2016:
2017 & 2018:
In addition, we also fund the Cetacean Strandings Investigation Programme (CSIP), which annually reports upon threats facing cetaceans through carrying out post-mortems on stranded animals:
& 2018:
As of 1 April 2021, we let a new 10-year contract for this programme, which demonstrates our long-term commitment to monitoring and mitigating such threats, including bycatch.