Recreational Sea Angling and Bait Collection a Threat to Marine Biodiversity?

As part of the Marine Bill Evidence Base for Marine Nature Conservation, DEFRA have commissioned reports to examine the impacts of currently unregulated and unlicensed activities on the UK Marine Environment.

Included in these activities are Recreational Sea Angling and Bait Collecting.

The contents of the reports that DEFRA will now consider when drafting the Marine Bill are available at:

http://www2.defra.gov.uk/research/project_data/More.asp?I=WC04027&M=KWS&V=4027&SCOPE=0

Obviously, the issues raised will at some time in the future feed through to action and perhaps regulation of these activities, and everyone that could potentially be affected needs to be familiar with the issues raised and engage with subsequent consultation as policy and regulations are developed further.