The Marine Management Organisation has published updated guidance on marine mammal bycatch reporting and emphasised the role fishermen have in protecting marine wildlife, in a notice dated 10 November 2026.
The document, titled "MMO highlights the importance of marine mammal bycatch reporting", refreshes advice and guidance relating to how incidents involving marine mammals are recorded and communicated to the regulator.
The MMO’s update stresses that fishermen’s observations and reports form a practical part of efforts to reduce harm to marine mammals. The organisation sets out why clear reporting matters to its own work.
Why reporting matters
The guidance explains the function of bycatch reporting within the MMO’s remit. It presents reporting as a means by which individual incidents can be brought to the attention of regulators and considered alongside other information used to inform decisions.
Fishermen and the updated guidance
The MMO underlines the role fishermen play, noting that those at sea are often first to encounter affected animals and therefore their reports are significant to ongoing efforts to protect wildlife. The update frames reporting as a contribution from the fishing community to wider conservation aims.
The published item is an update rather than an entirely new regime; it is presented as refreshed guidance intended to support consistent reporting practice.
The organisation’s notice is careful to position reporting as part of routine engagement between industry and regulator. It outlines responsibilities and expectations in broad terms and seeks to make clear why providing information is important for the MMO’s work.
The MMO’s publication does not itself change fisheries activity but seeks to ensure that reporting pathways and the significance of reports are understood. The guidance is offered as a practical resource for those whose day-to-day work brings them into contact with marine wildlife at sea.
The updated guidance will sit alongside other regulatory and advisory material within the MMO’s portfolio. Its publication on 10 November 2026 restates the regulator’s interest in receiving accurate and timely information about marine mammal bycatch events as part of its broader duties.