Marine Protected Areas: Bottom Trawling
(asked on 28th October 2026) - View Source
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what progress has been made on introducing management measures to prohibit bottom trawling in the 41 English Marine Protected Areas consulted on in 2025; and when those measures are expected to come into force.
Answered by
Stephen Morgan
Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
This question was answered on 2nd November 2026
The Marine Management Organisation has been carefully considering the very large number of responses received to the consultation, and decisions will be made in due course. Our Environmental Improvement Plan, published last December, commits us to putting all MPA fisheries byelaws in place by the end of 2026.