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

To ask Her Majesty's Government what steps they intend to take, if any, to meet the Fisheries Act 2020 ecosystem objective, particularly the monitoring and mitigation of sensitive species by catch, in the absence of substantial observer coverage and Remote Electronic Monitoring onboard English fishing vessels.

We recognise that accidental bycatch in fisheries is one of the greatest threats faced by sensitive marine species such as dolphins and seabirds, and we remain fully committed to tackling this issue. The way the “ecosystem” and “bycatch” objectives in the Fisheries Act 2020 will be delivered through policies across the UK has been set out in the draft Joint Fisheries Statement, which is out for public consultation until 12 April.

Since 2020, Defra has funded Clean Catch UK, a research programme which is developing and trialling a range of bycatch monitoring and mitigation measures in Cornwall (a known high-risk area for sensitive species bycatch). This programme has developed a bycatch self-reporting mobile application validated by observers and electronic monitoring and an online ‘Bycatch Mitigation Hub’ with information on different approaches to reduce bycatch. In addition, we are working with the fishing industry to trial various innovative technologies to reduce cetacean bycatch. The government will continue to build on the work of Clean Catch to improve our understanding of bycatch and implement effective mitigation measures to minimise and, where possible, eliminate bycatch.

The UK government funds a comprehensive and well-respected bycatch monitoring programme which provides essential observer data on incidents of sensitive species bycatch. The programme focuses primarily on gear types with a high expected or known risk of sensitive species bycatch. A new contract for the bycatch monitoring programme is expected to begin in April 2022.