Marine Mammal Bycatch Reporting Requirements

The MMO has announced the following: 

In order to continue to export fisheries products to the United States (US), and to assist conservation efforts in mitigating marine mammal bycatch, the UK needs to comply with international standards for the conservation of marine mammals.

This means that there is now a mandatory requirement under fishing vessel licence conditions, whereby fishers will need to report any bycatch of marine mammals to the MMO, within 48 hours of the end of the fishing trip.

This can be done by completing the template below and sending this to the MMO using the following email address or postal address;

MMO Statistics Mailbox – statistics@marinemanagement.org.uk Or MMO Statistics, Lancaster House, Hampshire Court, Newcastle upon Tyne, NE4 7YH

The information supplied by fishers will be used to report on incidental injury, mortality or bycatch of marine mammal species at an aggregated level to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) in order to comply with the above reporting requirements.