UK marine life under threat, report claims

Fishing and climate are having an adverse effect on marine life in the UK, a report by the Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) has found.

The study said that pollution did not affect much of the open sea and also reported that levels of monitored contaminants are starting to decrease. However, Defra said that industrial activities, fishing and diffuse pollution, as well as the invasion of non-native species was affecting local sea life in some areas. Rising sea temperatures and increased acidification, caused by climate change, were also having an effect, the report said.

Defra's report claimed that existing monitoring programmes were inadequate to assess the status of some elements of the UK's marine ecosystem. The report made a number of proposals, including: development of indicators to measure the health of the ecosystem; increasing research in any areas where there were knowledge gaps; establishing a Marine Data & Information Partnership to provide a national framework for data management; and establishing a Marine Climate Change Impacts Partnership to investigate how climate change affects the marine environment.

Commenting on the report, Environment Minister Elliot Morley said: "Today's report suggests that asking new questions of our marine environment requires a new approach. This new approach will hopefully give us the answers we are looking for and help us plan for the long term. But what I can say with some certainty is that we are having an adverse effect on our marine life and climate change is clearly evident in our seas."

(KMcA/SP)