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

To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the number of bluefin tuna in the waters around the UK.

Bluefin tuna have been sighted increasingly in UK waters since 2014. That increased abundance may be due to both oceanographic and ecosystem changes, but also the efforts put into stock recovery. The UK has conducted two tagging programmes of bluefin tuna one in English waters called CHART and the other, Thunnus UK which operates in the waters of the British Isles. Further information on those projects is available from:

· CatcH And Release Tag (CHART) Scientific Data Collection Programme for Atlantic Bluefin Tuna (BFT) - Cefas (Centre for Environment, Fisheries and Aquaculture Science)

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Similar schemes have been undertaken by the devolved administrations in Welsh, Scottish and Northern Irish waters.