The following 17 classification zones have been prohibited for more than one year: Bailey’s Hard; Prinstead; Thurstaston East; Turnaway Point Relay; Wisemans; Mersey, specifically Wallasey; Dodnor; Aldingham; Plym; Tamar; Lytchett Bay; Fareham Lake Middle; Ribble Channel; Silloth South, specifically Catherinehole Scar; Itchen River; Eling; and Hythe. The following table provides a breakdown of classifications awarded, and the number of areas designated as prohibited for commercial harvesting, each year between 2019 and 2024:

Notes:

1. These figures were accurate as of 14 May 2024 and are subject to change due to interim classification updates.
2. These figures are inclusive of areas which carry seasonal classification on time-limited prohibition.

Annual classification for 2024 will be published on 1 December 2024, however, the current classification stands at 63 class A, 229 class B and 8 class C beds.

The following 17 classification zones have been prohibited for more than one year: Bailey’s Hard; Prinstead; Thurstaston East; Turnaway Point Relay; Wisemans; Mersey, specifically Wallasey; Dodnor; Aldingham; Plym; Tamar; Lytchett Bay; Fareham Lake Middle; Ribble Channel; Silloth South, specifically Catherinehole Scar; Itchen River; Eling; and Hythe. The following table provides a breakdown of classifications awarded, and the number of areas designated as prohibited for commercial harvesting, each year between 2019 and 2024:

Notes:

1. These figures were accurate as of 14 May 2024 and are subject to change due to interim classification updates.
2. These figures are inclusive of areas which carry seasonal classification on time-limited prohibition.

Annual classification for 2024 will be published on 1 December 2024, however, the current classification stands at 63 class A, 229 class B and 8 class C beds.

Defra is responsible for designating shellfish water protected areas. Investigations are carried out by other organisations that have a role in water quality in shellfish waters, such as the Environment Agency and water companies (if directed to do so by the Environment Agency). Defra does not oversee these investigations to provide a figure.

The Government is carefully considering the results from the call for evidence regarding the current use of decapods in science to inform future policy options.

The Home Office intend to commission the independent advisory body, the Animals in Science Committee (ASC), for advice on this issue. The scope of the commission to the ASC will be made public. We will then publish in due course.

We have challenged the EU's restrictions on undepurated Class B live bivalve molluscs through the mechanisms provided by the UK-EU Trade and Cooperation Agreement (TCA). These include the TCA SPS Committee, TCA Partnership Council and Trade Partnership Committee. Minutes of these Committees can be found at Trade and Cooperation Agreement Governance - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk).

Since 2021, the Government has awarded £22.3 million to support the shellfish aquaculture industry in areas such as improving sustainability, preventing shellfish disease, and better skills and training.

The Government's Storm Overflows Discharge Reduction Plan prioritises action to improve the water quality of 63 of the largest shellfish waters in England by 2030.

The Government continues to challenge the EU's restrictions on undepurated Class B live bivalve molluscs which we believe are unjustified and disproportionate to the risk under the terms of the Trade and Cooperation Agreement.

Government has consulted on a crab and lobster fisheries management plan (FMP) which included a proposal to extend the national minimum landing size for crawfish to 110mm outside 6 nautical miles. This consultation closed on 01 October. The crab and lobster FMP is due to be published in December.

We are working closely with stakeholders to gather information and build a clear evidence base on decapod crustacean welfare, in order to understand what opportunities exist to improve welfare standards. There are currently no plans to bring forward additional legislation in this area.

The Government recognises that protecting, restoring, and sustainably managing coastal and marine habitats such as saltmarsh, seagrass and native oyster reefs can provide benefits for society, biodiversity and climate adaptation, as well as for carbon sequestration.

We are working to protect these habitats, including through the Marine Protected Area network, which already contains the majority of saltmarsh and seagrass habitats in the UK. A number of estuarine and coastal habitat restoration initiatives are also underway including the Environment Agency’s Restoring Meadow, Marsh and Reef (ReMeMaRe) initiative which aims to reverse centuries of coastal habitat decline by restoring seagrass meadows, saltmarsh and native oyster reefs to bring benefits to people and nature. The Environment Agency’s restoration handbooks and restoration potential maps are also a key tool to support restoration of coastal blue carbon habitats in the UK and beyond.

In addition, the Government’s £80 million Green Recovery Challenge Fund has supported a range of nature recovery projects across England, some which have included saltmarsh and seagrass restoration.

The Government continues to challenge the restrictions imposed by the European Union on the import of undepurated Live Bivalve Molluscs from Class B waters. Most recently, the UK tabled this issue at the Trade Partnership Committee held on 1st December 2022, and again at the Partnership Council meeting between the Foreign Secretary and European Commission Vice-President on 24th March 2023. The minutes for the Trade Partnership Committee can be found on GOV.UK. The EU’s response to the UK’s challenge is that they will not resume trade in these commodities as they do not trade in them with any third country. The EU has recently responded to our requests for a risk assessment underpinning their position. This response is currently under consideration.

There are currently no plans to take steps to compensate shellfish aquaculture businesses impacted by poor water quality. However, the Government is prioritising action to improve the water quality of the largest shellfish waters in England by 2030. This will require action (improvement, prevention of deterioration or investigation) at 63 shellfish waters between 2025-2030.

The Environment Agency will require water companies to review what action is needed in the identified 63 priority shellfish areas, whether that is improvement, prevention of deterioration or investigation. This will lead to reductions in sewage discharges from storm overflows and disinfection of treated sewage.

Where the results of monitoring indicate any event which has increased faecal contamination in an area, prompt action is taken to protect public health either by pausing harvesting or introducing additional controls on shellfish from the area.

Shellfish harvesting waters are included in protected areas within the Environment Agency’s River Basin Management Plans. They can be affected by a number of different microbial sources like sewage discharges and agricultural land run off.

The Government is prioritising action to improve the water quality of the largest shellfish waters in England by 2030. This will require action (improvement, prevention of deterioration or investigation) at 63 shellfish waters between 2025-2030.

Yet again, the shadow Secretary of State does not seem to trust civil servants. Our chief scientific adviser did a thorough job of going through what has happened on Teesside and what is available. Organisations such as the Centre for Environment, Fisheries and Aquaculture Science have also looked at recent incidents, and we will continue to use our scientists to investigate, as appropriate.

I am afraid that peddling conspiracy theories is not appropriate for a shadow Secretary of State.

A year on from my request from this Dispatch Box for an urgent meeting on food security, the Government’s Farm to Fork summit was described by attendees as “no more than a PR stunt” that will do nothing to help the cost of living crisis.

The Secretary of State also knows that fishing is a key pillar of our food security, but it is under grave threat on Teesside. Given that crustacean die-offs continue to cripple generations of fishers, will she join me in demanding that the inevitable “truth on Teesside” public inquiry includes this environmental and economic disaster in its terms of reference?

We are considering carefully if further analysis by the Centre for Environment, Fisheries and Aquaculture Science can ascertain more conclusively the cause of this unusual mortality.

Crustacean samples from the mortality incident are preserved and securely stored by Cefas. There are eight stored composite samples collected between October 2021 and October 2022, including samples collected early in the investigation by the Environment Agency and those obtained by the Fish Health Inspectorate. These comprise individual and pooled samples derived from more than 80 animals. Samples have been stored according to standard ISO/IEC 17025 accredited laboratory procedures as frozen homogenised tissues, fixed histological preparations, or as partially processed tissues and organs (e.g., extracted DNA or RNA).

Cefas is currently arranging for the remaining samples from the original crustacean mortality investigation to be provided to stakeholders in the Northeast in response to their request for any remaining sample material. Provision of these samples will be in line with reporting requirements for disease under Fish Health Inspectorate obligations.

The panel of independent experts set up to assess the cause of crustacean mortality could not find a definitive cause for the mortalities, and concluded that maintenance dredging and capital dredging were very unlikely and exceptionally unlikely to have been the cause. A range of support is provided to the English seafood sector through the Fisheries and Seafood Scheme (FaSS) and the £100 million UK Seafood Fund. FaSS includes grants of up to £100,000 to support diversification, such as gear to target new species and processing equipment to develop new products. Since opening in April 2021, FaSS has provided £2.2 million to seafood businesses in the North East and is open for applications now. In addition, the Fisheries Industry Science Partnerships (FISP) scheme, part of the UK Seafood Fund, is providing over £260,000 to a project led by the North-Eastern Inshore Fisheries and Conservation Authority (NEIFCA) that will help establish an ongoing survey programme for the inshore lobster fishery. Further information on this project can be found here: FISP projects: grants and contracts awarded in round 1 of the scheme - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)