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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how much government funding is available for salmon and eel conservation in 2016-17; and how much such funding was available in 2009-10.

In 2009/10, £9.4 million of Government funding was issued to the Environment Agency covering its fisheries specific duties, such as maintaining, improving and developing fisheries for migratory fish species, for both England and Wales.

Since 2010, the Environment Agency has received Government funding to deliver its environmental objectives through an integrated approach which does not allow disaggregation. Salmon and eel conservation has benefited from work on delivering the Water Framework Directive, funding for the community-led Catchment Based Approach for delivering water improvements, pollution prevention work and from areas such as monitoring and planning. In addition to this broad Government funding, migratory fish species benefit from the Environment Agency’s charging activity work.