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 13 October 2022 to Question 59085 on Algae: Marine Environment, whether her Department plans to implement policies to remedy harmful algae blooms.

Algal blooms, including harmful ones, are, and always have been, a natural feature of our seas. Most marine blooms are harmless, but some harmful effects, whilst rare, do sometimes occur. The Centre for Environment, Fisheries and Aquaculture Science (Cefas) and the Environment Agency (EA) respond to such incidents where appropriate.

Both Harmful and non-Harmful Algal Blooms in the UK are influenced by natural, wide-ranging factors such as weather, hydrography, and climate. A range of factors affects the occurrence, frequency, location, timing and intensity of bloom formation, including upwelling currents, winds, vertical mixing, surface water temperature, and nutrient supply. Shifting climatic regimes and long-term temperature changes are further influences. Cefas and the EA undertake monitoring to help to understand and predict these changes. Early-warning systems for aquaculture and health protection are being developed, such as the HABreport system in Scotland (https://www.habreports.org/).

Policies to control the existence or growth of algal blooms are most focused on reducing the human factors which can exacerbate them. Whilst algal blooms are naturally occurring, factors such as excess nutrients and warming seas can increase their frequency and intensity. Reducing or mitigating other pressures which affect marine life may help to strengthen their resilience to bloom events.