Marine Protected Areas: Fishing Vessels
(asked on 6th June 2025) - View Source
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether they plan to ban bottom trawling in marine protected areas, and if so when.
Answered by
Baroness Hayman of Ullock
Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
This Government is committed to protecting and restoring our ocean to good health, delivering on our commitment to protect 30% of the ocean by 2030. We have recently announced a consultation on plans to ban bottom trawling in a further 41 Marine Protected Areas (MPAs), covering 30,000 square kilometres of England’s waters. This is in addition to the 60% of MPAs that already have byelaws in place to protect them from damaging fishing activity, and to existing protections provided by the marine planning and licensing regimes. The consultation on these new proposals will run from 9 June to 1 September 2025.