Defra is working with its agencies, the Met Office and the research community to understand the potential impacts of marine heatwaves on marine species and habitats. This includes funding the Marine Climate Change Impacts Partnership and collecting reports of impacts to fisheries and marine biodiversity that may be linked to the recent heatwaves. The Department will use the 4th National Adaptation Plan to set out how the government will continue to manage the impacts of climate change in our seas, including marine heatwaves.

Marine mammal bycatch is required to be reported under the Marine Mammal Protection Act to continue to export fisheries products to the United States (US), and to assist conservation efforts in mitigating marine mammal bycatch.

According to the Marine Management Organisation, fishermen made a total of 40 reports of marine mammal bycatch across the last three years from 2023 to 2025.

In 2023 there were 17 reports of marine mammal bycatch, six incidents of which resulted in injury or death. In 2024 there were 12 incidents reported, and none resulted in injury or death.

The Bycatch Monitoring Programme is currently producing the 2024 report on marine mammal bycatch estimates and is expected to be published by the end of the year.

According to the UK Cetacean Strandings Investigation Programme there were twenty cases of cetacean bycatch and entanglement in 2023 and fifteen in 2024. This data is taken from necropsy data only and does not include data collected on beaches/at sea by volunteer schemes from non-necropsied animals.

In 2021 the Government worked with the Devolved Administrations, Marine Management Organisation, Joint Nature and Conversation Committee and academia, to submit a suite of evidence to support the UK’s application for a comparability finding in respect of the US Marine Mammal Protection Act (MMPA). The MMPA Import Provisions require that harvesting nations maintain a regulatory programme to address the intentional and incidental mortality and serious injury of marine mammals in their export fisheries that is comparable in effectiveness to the U.S. regulatory programme. In August 2025, having reviewed this this evidence, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) of the United States found the United Kingdom’s regulatory programme to be comparable to the US, meaning trade in fisheries products can continue as before.

The UK Government funds a comprehensive bycatch monitoring programme which provides essential observer data on incidents of sensitive species bycatch, including marine mammals. This programme reports annually on estimated rates of sensitive species bycatch in fisheries around the UK and will continue to collect and report this data.

The Government also funds Clean Catch which is a collaborative research programme dedicated to better monitoring, reducing, and, where possible, eliminating bycatch of sensitive species in UK fisheries. Clean Catch run several projects to improve monitoring of marine mammal bycatch. These include a self-reporting app for fishermen to record bycatch, trials of Remote Electronic Monitoring, and a recent report on fishermen’s views on barriers to, and opportunities for, improved engagement in addressing sensitive species bycatch.

Links:

Bycatch Monitoring Programme

Clean Catch REM

Clean Catch app

Clean Catch report

The UK Government funds the UK Cetacean Strandings Investigation Programme (CSIP), operating since 1990, it annually reports upon threats facing marine mammals through carrying out post-mortems on stranded animals: CSIP.

The Government is committed to taking action to tackle Abandoned, lost or otherwise discarded fishing gear (ALDFG) to reduce the risk to all marine life, including marine mammals.

We are working domestically to tackle plastic pollution from fishing and aquaculture gear across the full lifecycle and therefore reduce the risks to wildlife. We supported the development of a circular gear design standard under the European standards body, and are working with the administrations in Scotland, Northern Ireland and Wales and industry, to develop UK-wide solutions for the collection and recycling of end-of-life gear.

This is a transboundary issue and global action is needed. Internationally, the UK has called for plastic pollution treaty under negotiation to include specific provisions to address harmful forms of plastic pollution, including fishing and aquaculture gear. We believe that measures need to address the full lifecycle of gear, from design to end-of-life management.

We are also working with other countries at the International Maritime Organisation (IMO) to strengthen the requirements under the International Convention for the Prevention of Pollution from Ships (MARPOL) on the marking of fishing gear and the reporting of fishing gear losses.

Since the publication of the Marine Wildlife Bycatch Mitigation Initiative, we have continued our work to minimise and, where possible, eliminate the bycatch of sensitive marine species. That has included renewing Clean Catch for a further 3-year period. This flagship programme will be focused on collaborative trials with the fishing industry to establish practical ways to minimise bycatch, delivery of research on potential bycatch hotspots and of best practice guides tailored to fishermen’s needs, and critical knowledge exchange both within and beyond the UK.

In addition to that, in 2025, we are considering further measures to reduce bycatch of seabirds. We have not published an implementation plan but will consider the need for this when working with stakeholders to identify and implement these measures. This builds on wider work done under the English Seabird Conservation and Recovery Pathway. For more information see: English Seabird Conservation and Recovery Pathway (ESCaRP) - ME6044.

Vessels are, of course, already required to report marine mammal bycatch. We are looking at implementing remote electronic monitoring on larger vessels to gather better data about fishing activities. We are also working to improve our marine environment by ratifying the biodiversity beyond national jurisdiction agreement, enforcing fishing restrictions in marine protected areas, and ensuring that all catch limits are set sustainably.

Research estimates that as many as 170 dolphins and other mammals are caught and killed every year off the Sussex coast, yet no bycatch data is recorded. Will the Secretary of State please outline how

he is ensuring that supertrawlers operating in UK waters are fulfilling their legal duty to report marine mammal bycatch to the Marine Management Organisation?

This Government are committed to protecting our wildlife and putting nature on the road to recovery. Defra are working to improve monitoring and understanding of bycatch incidences as part of the Bycatch Mitigation Initiative. This includes continued annual estimates of marine mammal bycatch mortality through the Bycatch Monitoring Programme and work to look at barriers to bycatch reporting under the Clean Catch project.

Marine mammal bycatch is required to be reported under the Marine Mammal Protection Act. According to the Marine Management Organisation six marine mammals were reported by fishing vessels as bycatch injury or mortality in 2023.

There are various sources for marine mammal bycatch data in the UK.

The UK Bycatch Monitoring Programme provides bycatch estimates for the UK; however, these have not yet been produced for 2023.

The UK Cetacean Strandings Investigation Programme diagnosed 16 cases of bycaught marine mammals in 2023 (covering England, Wales and Northern Ireland and which all occurred in England).

In Scotland, the Scottish Marine Animal Stranding Scheme reports on incidents of marine mammal bycatch in Scottish waters.

Defra acknowledged in several 2023 fisheries consultations that remote electronic monitoring (REM), including the installation of cameras, can tell us more about interactions between fishing activity and sensitive species. Specifically, our REM consultation set out our proposals in more detail. Using the information which REM provides will allow us to collaborate with the fishing industry to develop better methods for bycatch mitigation, supporting the UK Bycatch Mitigation Initiative.

Defra have funded several mammal focused remote electronic monitoring research and development programmes in recent years, including the ongoing Insight360 programme. This programme aims to develop a comprehensive 360° view of marine mammal bycatch, above and below fishing vessels. If successful, this programme will inform the implementation of technology, such as cameras, on fishing vessels to monitor marine mammal bycatch in the years to come.