Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, how many trespassers have been evicted from the British Indian Overseas Territory (Chagos Islands) in each of the last 10 years.

The BIOT Administration is committed to tackling any illegal, unregulated and unreported fishing within the Marine Protected Area. According to available records, this has led to the successful criminal prosecution of 25 masters/ owners of vessels for such activity since 2014. Upon a successful prosecution the masters and their crews are served with removal orders to leave the Territory, and there have been 25 of these issued since 2014 to masters of their vessels and their crews. Prosecutions were brought under The British Indian Ocean Territory Fisheries (Conservation and Management) Ordinance 2007.