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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment has she made of the impact of bottom-trawling on (a) carbon in the seabed and (b) the release of greenhouse gases.

The overall impact of trawling on carbon dioxide release remains uncertain. Defra is actively progressing the evidence base to better understand the resilience and recovery of seabed biodiversity and carbon stores in sediments, in response to human pressures and management interventions.

Defra work with a number of experts on climate change, including the Centre for Environment, Fisheries and Aquaculture Science (Cefas), to understand the impacts of trawling on the seabed and whether carbon disturbance at the seabed leads to greenhouse gas emissions. We plan to release more research outputs relating to seabed carbon, as work continues to progress in this area, helping to develop a stronger understanding of the impacts of bottom-trawling.

The UK Blue Carbon Evidence Partnership's Evidence Needs Statement, which Defra contributed to as a partner, was published on World Ocean Day (8^th June 2023). It signalled the need for the Blue Carbon community to further the evidence base on the potential impacts of seabed disturbance on carbon stocks and greenhouse gas emissions (UK Blue Carbon Evidence Partnership - Evidence Needs Statement (cefas.co.uk)).