Bycatch Risk Prioritisation Framework

Lord Roborough Excerpts

Tuesday 21st July 2026 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Hayman of Ullock (Lab)]

We are looking to start with the larger vessels because that will make the biggest difference and have the biggest impact. From that, we will look at a mandatory rollout. We will look across vessels of all sizes, because we need to make the biggest difference.

[Lord Roborough (Con)]

My Lords, the English Atlantic salmon is also a victim of bycatch, yet it is on the IUCN red list of endangered species. The salmon is an easy to monitor species that is a key contributor to and indicator of the health of our native ecosystems. What progress has been made on rolling out the bycatch initiative to UK vessels and EU vessels, where this Government have given another 12 years of access to our fisheries? Will EU vessels be managed under this plan? I declare my interest as the owner of fishing rights in England and Scotland.

[Baroness Hayman of Ullock (Lab)]

Perhaps I should declare my interest, as I have fishing rights in England for salmon and brown trout.

A lot of these issues are tied up with the negotiations that we are doing with the EU around fishing rights and what access the EU will have, so it is difficult for me to comment on that in any detail. On the salmon bycatch, this is an important question. We have some real issues with numbers of salmon, as the noble Lord knows. Defra has been exploring the different options to improve the data collection for salmon bycatch. That includes monitoring, using REM on vessels, so that we can have a clear picture, get more data and look at how best to target the problems that this is causing to salmon stocks.