Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how many studies the Centre for Environment Fisheries and Aquaculture Science has (a) conducted and (b) completed using close-kin DNA analysis; and on what species those studies focused.

Close-kin DNA analysis is a relatively new scientific method for assessing the genetic profile and abundance of animal populations. While it has been used in fish populations elsewhere, including on thornback ray in the Bay of Biscay, the planned scientific study with pollack in the English Channel would be the first time Cefas have used it in the UK.