20/03/24 - Shellfish deaths, incoming Welsh First Minister, waste wool and avian flu

Fishermen and wildlife are still feeling the impact nearly two and a half years after the mass shellfish deaths on England's North East Coast. After several years of investigations and reviews, the conclusion of an independent expert panel, chaired by DEFRA's Chief Scientific Adviser Professor Gideon Henderson, was that the deaths of crabs, lobsters and other commercially important shellfish, was "as like as not", down to an unknown pathogen. Fishermen had blamed contamination from dredging or the presence of a toxic pollutant - but the panel dismissed that as "very unlikely". Farmers have been protesting about the Welsh Government's plans to implement a new Sustainable Farming Scheme, which includes having 10 percent of farmland planted with trees and 10 percent to benefit wildlife. The incoming First Minister, Vaughan Gething, brings with him some rural credentials - his father worked as a vet in South Wales and his mother was a chicken farmer in Zambia... So will that make him more receptive to farmers' concerns? And new rules are brought in so that everyone keeping birds has to register on a National list. Up till now only flocks of 50 or more had to be registered, but now, anyone who keeps just a few chickens in the garden, or birds of prey, or pigeons will have to do so too. DEFRA says the new rules will help them contact more bird keepers, so they can stay up to date on local disease outbreaks - like avian flu. Presented by Anna Hill

Produced for BBC Audio in Bristol by Heather Simons