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<p>All cetaceans are fully protected in UK waters under the Conservation of Habitats
and Species Regulations. In the UK, it is an offence to deliberately disturb, harm,
capture or kill wild cetaceans. We are not aware of any cetaceans being caught illegally
in UK waters in 2022.</p><p> </p><p>The UK introduced new rules in 2021 making it
mandatory under fishing vessel licence conditions for fishers to report any marine
mammal bycatch to the Marine Management Organisation (MMO). On the introduction of
this requirement, communications were sent out by Defra, the Devolved Administrations
and the MMO to ensure that industry understood the new obligations.</p><p> </p><p>This
reporting is complemented by a range of other monitoring programmes.</p><p> </p><p>The
Government funds the UK Bycatch Monitoring Programme which uses onboard observers
to estimate bycatch rates and high-risk gear types. The 2022 annual programme report
will be completed and published, once fishing effort figures for 2022 are finalised
and can be integrated into bycatch estimates.</p><p> </p><p>In addition, both the
UK Cetacean Strandings Investigation Programme (CSIP) and the Scottish Marine Animal
Strandings Scheme investigate the causes of death of stranded cetaceans around the
UK coast to improve our understanding of, and ability to tackle, key threats like
bycatch. CSIP strandings data are published in annual reports. Due to unprecedented
events, including the coronavirus pandemic and the UK’s largest ever outbreak of avian
influenza, the delivery of project reports has been delayed. The 2022 annual report
will be finalised shortly and released in due course, following publication assurance
processes.</p><p> </p><p>Since 2020, Defra has also funded Clean Catch UK, a research
programme which is developing and trialling a range of bycatch monitoring and mitigation
measures. This programme has developed a bycatch self-reporting mobile application
and an online ‘Bycatch Mitigation Hub’ with information on different approaches to
reduce bycatch.</p><p> </p><p>We recognise that accidental bycatch in fisheries is
one of the greatest threats faced by cetaceans, and we remain fully committed to tackling
this and addressing monitoring gaps. In 2022, the UK Government and Devolved Administrations
published the UK Bycatch Mitigation Initiative (BMI). This outlines how the UK will
achieve its ambitions to minimise and, where possible, eliminate the bycatch of sensitive
marine species. As a core objective of the BMI, the Government will continue to build
on existing monitoring work to improve our understanding of bycatch and entanglement
of sensitive marine species.</p>
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