Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, whether his Department is taking steps to help mitigate the impact of industrial krill fishing on the baleen whale population in the Scotia Sea.

The UK is actively engaging through the Commission for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources (CCAMLR) to develop a krill risk assessment framework to enhance protection for all krill-eating species, including baleen whales across the Scotia Sea region. Through its Marine Protected Area, the Government of South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands imposes additional restrictions on the krill fishery within its waters, including restricting fishing to the winter around South Georgia to prohibit fishing during the most important seasons for krill-eating species, prohibiting fishing within 30km of land, and keeping the South Sandwich Islands closed to krill fishing.