Fishing Catches: Cetaceans

(asked on 12th April 2021) - View Source

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.


Answered by
Victoria Prentis Portrait
Victoria Prentis
Attorney General
This question was answered on 20th April 2021

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:

http://randd.defra.gov.uk/Default.aspx?Menu=Menu&Module=More&Location=None&ProjectID=18535&FromSearch=Y&Publisher=1&SearchText=ME6004&SortString=ProjectCode&SortOrder=Asc&Paging=10#Description

2017 & 2018:

http://randd.defra.gov.uk/Default.aspx?Menu=Menu&Module=More&Location=None&ProjectID=19943&FromSearch=Y&Publisher=1&SearchText=ME6004&SortString=ProjectCode&SortOrder=Asc&Paging=10#Description

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:

2011-2017: http://randd.defra.gov.uk/Default.aspx?Menu=Menu&Module=More&Location=None&ProjectID=17835&FromSearch=Y&Publisher=1&SearchText=ME6008&SortString=ProjectCode&SortOrder=Asc&Paging=10#Description

& 2018:

http://randd.defra.gov.uk/Default.aspx?Menu=Menu&Module=More&Location=None&ProjectID=20101&FromSearch=Y&Publisher=1&SearchText=ME6008&SortString=ProjectCode&SortOrder=Asc&Paging=10#Description)

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.

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