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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment her Department has made of the ocean’s contribution to a) economic b) energy c) food and d) coastal security; and whether she will make an assessment of the potential merits of ensuring that seas are treated as critical national infrastructure.

Government recognises the significant contribution made by the seas of the UK Exclusive Economic Zone to economic, energy, food and coastal security, supporting key sectors including fisheries, offshore renewables and other marine industries.

The natural capital accounts define the extent of the UK marine and coastal margins habitat area and estimate that they produced ecosystem services with an annual measurable value of approximately £43 billion in 2022, and an estimated asset value of £272 billion. Within that total, fish provisioning is estimated to produce £185m ecoservices to support the UK's food security.

Further information on the value of UK marine and coastal margin ecosystem services relating to a) economic b) energy c) food and d) coastal security can be found in Table 3 of the Marine and coastal margins natural capital accounts, UK: 2025 (ONS)

Decisions concerning critical national infrastructure are considered across Government, not by Defra alone, and there are no plans to change this definition.