Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment he has made of the effectiveness of the UK Port Waste Reception Facilities regime in supporting the disposal of fishing gear; and whether he plans to strengthen or standardise requirements across ports.

Defra engages with ports, the fishing sector and Devolved Governments on a range of marine litter and waste issues. Defra has not made an assessment of UK Port Waste Reception Facilities, which are managed by the Department for Transport and the Maritime and Coastguard Agency.

The international Convention for the Prevention of Pollution from Ships (MARPOL) sets international regulations covering the various sources of ship-generated waste pollution within individual Annexes of the Convention. To protect the marine environment further and to strengthen the prohibition requirement under the Merchant Shipping Regulations implementing MARPOL, the Merchant Shipping and Fishing Vessels (Port Waste Reception Facilities) Regulations 2003 set requirement for ports and terminals to provide adequate reception facilities for the delivery of ships-generated waste.

The UK is working collaboratively at the International Maritime Organisation to address actions that have been identified under its 2025 Action Plan and 2021 Strategy on marine plastic litter from ships, in particular abandoned, lost and discarded fishing gear.