STOP SEA BLASTS AND PROTECT MARINE MAMMALS

Today is Earth Day 2021, an appropriate day for me to highlight the environmental damage caused by the clearance of unexploded bombs and mines at sea. The noise involved in this process can be highly damaging to marine mammals such as whales and dolphins, as they rely on their auditory systems for navigation and communication, so the damage can threaten their very survival.

I therefore asked the Leader of the House to set out when the UK Government plans to progress regulations to favour the deflagration technique – a process which is several hundred times quieter than current methods and much more environmentally sensitive to marine mammals than sea blasts.

See the exchange below.