Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what proportion of by-catch was caught by activities funded by the UK Overseas Territories Blue Belt programme in each of the participating Overseas Territories in (i) 2016-17 and (ii) 2017-18.

All scientific surveys undertaken through the Blue Belt programme are designed in line with international best practice, and undertake consideration of all potential impacts together with mitigation measures to limit such impacts, pre-deployment. There was no by-catch in 2016-17. During the 2017-18 fish stock assessment and tagging research, undertaken at the request of the Government of Tristan Da Cunha, specific gear was employed which limited the incidental mortality of non-target species but seven sharks (Notorynchus cepedianus) were killed through depredation by other species.