Written question asked by Andrew George (Liberal Democrat) on Thursday, 19 April 2007, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Monday, 23 April 2007. It was answered by Ben Bradshaw (Labour) on Thursday, 26 April 2007 on behalf of the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs.

Shellfish

Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what recent assessment he has made of the effect on marine conservation of the banning of the landing of berried lobsters.

Answer: Scientific studies suggest that a ban on the landing of berried lobsters and an increase in the Minimum Landing Size (MLS), if equally complied with, would provide similar conservation benefits. However, a ban on the taking of berried lobsters would be almost impossible to enforce, and we know it is likely to be widely ignored. Its potential contribution to lobster conservation may therefore not be realized.As a MLS can be more effectively enforced and very difficult to ignore, I chose to investigate this option in the interests of getting effective conservation results. We have recently completed a consultation on proposals for increasing the MLS for lobsters and will announce the conclusions from it in the near future.

Secondary information