The health of marine mammal populations, including dolphins, whales and seals, is to be the subject of a hearing by the House of Commons Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee. The evidence session will be held at 2.30 pm on Tuesday 11 October in Committee Room 6
The aim of the inquiry is better to understand the role the UK can play in protecting these creatures. The committee will look at various issues including:
· the latest data on marine mammal populations;
· threats to marine mammals including bycatch (the unintended capture by fishers of non-targeted species), pollution, climate change and hunting; and
· the role of the UK government in protecting these species in UK waters and internationally.
Those to be testifying before the committee on 11 October are:
Panel 1
- Rob Deaville, Project Manager, UK Cetacean Strandings Investigation Programme
- Prof David Lusseau, Professor of Marine Sustainability, Technical University of Denmark, and member of the International Union for Conservation of Nature (via Zoom)
- Dr Carol Sparling, Director, Sea Mammal Research Unit
Panel 2
- Lucy Babey, Deputy Director and Head of Science & Conservation, ORCA, a conservation charity
- Chris Butler Stroud, Chief Executive, Whale & Dolphin Conservation in the UK
- Mark Simmonds OBE, Director of Science, Ocean Care, a research and campaign organisation
Dr Neil Hudson, MP for Penrith and The Border, and Member of the EFRA Committee said:
“Our cross party EFRA Select Committee, comprising of Conservative, Labour and SNP MPs, is looking at the health status of marine mammal populations. I triggered this Inquiry because, facing huge environmental and climatic challenges, our waters and the species that inhabit them are in a precarious balance. It is important that Government is aware of the ecological situation and can make evidence-based decisions domestically and internationally to protect our precious environment and the animals that human behaviour directly impacts.”
The session can also be viewed on parliamentlive.tv
