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Natural Environment and Rural Communities Bill

I simply want to say that I know my noble friend Lord Livsey would have liked to be here this afternoon to speak but he is suffering from a particularly nasty attack of bronchitis. I fear that he will not be with us tomorrow either, but he would have wanted to associate himself with the words of the noble Earl, Lord Peel. I do not propose to say anything on squirrels as I think noble Lords have done great justice to them. I would like, however, to raise briefly the issue of ballast water. The Chinese mitten crab was cited by the noble Baroness, Lady Byford, in her introduction. Ships can release hundreds of thousands of tonnes of ballast water a year on to our shores. I believe that there are treatments available that do not affect the water because they are not chemical treatments but light treatments, which can kill any organism within that water. They work fairly quickly. Are the Government going to consider introducing a requirement that ships releasing ballast water into UK waters shall be fitted with such a device that can treat the ballast water, thereby rendering it entirely harmless to any UK wildlife?