Asked by: Lord Krebs (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask Her Majesty's Government, in light of the sustainability objective in section 2(b) of the Fisheries Act 2020, what steps they will take in order to determine whether current fleet capacity matches available fishing opportunities.
Answered by Lord Benyon - Lord Chamberlain (HM Household)
The UK produces an annual fleet capacity report which assesses how effectively the fleet is operating.
The Government is committed to engage with stakeholders to address sustainability and fleet management issues through Fisheries Management Plans.
The current management system of licences and quota restrictions ensure that the sustainability objectives in the Fisheries Act are addressed, with licence conditions amended where necessary to match demand against fishing opportunities.
Asked by: Lord Krebs (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what new financial support they will allocate to support building a (1) sustainable, (2) low carbon, fishing industry.
Answered by Lord Benyon - Lord Chamberlain (HM Household)
The £100 million UK Seafood Fund has been carefully crafted to support projects that will support the long-term viability of the sector. This is being done through all four elements, infrastructure, science and innovation, skills and training, and exports.
Additionally, one of the UK Seafood Fund’s overarching objectives is to increase environmental sustainability. It is one of the mandatory criteria that applicants must cover if applying under the Infrastructure pillar.
Funding is also available to enable each of the devolved administrations to deliver their own grant funding schemes. The scheme for England – the Fisheries and Seafood Scheme – has driven meaningful change to increase sustainability, provide world-class fisheries management and support a thriving marine environment.
The Marine Management Organisation is looking to relaunch the Fisheries and Seafood Scheme this month. The new iteration of the scheme will continue to deliver investment to safeguard the long-term sustainability, resilience and prosperity of the seafood sector across England. It will include support for projects that limit carbon emissions, reduce the environmental impact of fishing, enable the collection of marine litter, and deliver professional advice for seafood businesses on environmental sustainability.
Asked by: Lord Krebs (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Goldsmith of Richmond Park on 22 March (HL13985), what plans they have to reduce air pollution from diesel (1) engines, and (2) generators, on canal boats moored in residential areas.
Answered by Lord Goldsmith of Richmond Park
The Government is working to address emissions from canal boats as part of our wider commitment to improve air quality. Recent efforts have focussed on reducing pollution from solid fuel burning but government is actively exploring what options are available in the longer term to eliminate harmful emissions from the small diesel engines used on watercraft including the inland waterways sector.
Analysis undertaken by the Department for Transport has identified that alternative fuels and power sources will be needed in order to achieve substantial long-term reductions in air pollutant and greenhouse gas emissions from the inland and UK domestic fleets. In response to this the Government has recently launched the Clean Maritime Demonstration Competition, a £20m fund aimed at supporting innovation in the wider maritime sector and accelerating the commercial availability of low and zero emissions technology for vessels in the UK. While primarily focused on maritime activity it is expected that this fund will also benefit related sectors including inland fleet, particularly in areas like engine technology and alternative fuels.
Additionally, the maritime elements of the Government’s forthcoming Transport Decarbonisation Plan (TDP) will consider the wider opportunities to reduce pollutant emissions arising from our transition to net zero in 2050 and will consult upon appropriate policy responses to support this outcome. The TDP is planned for publication in late Spring.
Asked by: Lord Krebs (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have to reduce smoke and diesel pollution from canal boats moored in residential areas; and what assessment they have made of the case for removing the exemption for such vessels from the Clean Air Act 1954.
Answered by Lord Goldsmith of Richmond Park
Domestic solid fuel burning is a major contributor to fine particulate matter emissions, and in line with our Clean Air Strategy, we are taking action to tackle this issue including from moored canal boats.
Through the Environment Bill we are amending the Clean Air Act 1993 to make it easier for local authorities to reduce smoke emissions from domestic burning in smoke control areas (SCAs). This includes enabling local authorities to bring moored inland waterway vessels such as canal boats into scope of SCAs should they have a specific issue in their area. In such cases, chimney smoke from boats could be liable to a financial penalty. The use of this power will be subject to public consultation by local authorities.
In addition, we recently introduced new legislation to restrict the sale of the most polluting solid fuels used in domestic burning, including on canal boats used for permanent habitation. The aim of this legislation is to drive a transition to cleaner fuels: from wet wood to dry wood (which can reduce emissions by 50%), and from traditional house coal to smokeless coal and low sulphur manufactured solid fuels. We will also be ensuring that only the cleanest stoves are available for sale by 2022.
My department will continue to review emissions from these sources and will monitor the impact of the new legislation, considering in due course any additional legislative measures that may be needed to reduce emission levels further.