AquaPLAN researchers bring the issue of light pollution to the UK Parliament

Now in its seventh year, Evidence Week annually brings together the public, the UK’s leading researchers and parliamentarians to discuss how evidence is used and scrutinised at the Palace of Westminster in London. More commonly referred to as the Houses of Parliament, the Palace of Westminster is the meeting place of the Parliament of the UK. Each year, the researchers present quick-fire briefings on the latest evidence on a wide range of topics, to inform pressing policy issues and future legislation in the public interest. Evidence Week empowers legislators to engage with evidence and equips them and their staff with the critical skills, including tools to handle uncertainty, identify bias and scrutinise underlying assumptions.

AquaPLAN researchers, Professor Tim Smyth (Plymouth Marine Laboratory (PML)) and Dr Thomas Davies (University of Plymouth (UOP)) took part in Evidence Week (20-24 January 2025) to speak with Members of Parliament (MPs), peers and policy advisers during a quick-fire policy briefing about the impacts of underwater light pollution on marine ecosystems. As coastal areas become increasingly built up, concerns are growing about levels of artificial light at night (ALAN) and its potential impacts on the marine environment. The impacts of light pollution on terrestrial ecosystems, the night sky and astronomy have all been extensively researched, while the effects on the ocean have been understudied. The studies that have been completed have found that up to 1.9 million km² of the world’s oceans and 22% of coastlines are being exposed to biologically significant levels of ALAN from coastal cities and offshore infrastructures. The growing popularity of Light Emitting Diodes (LEDs) now more than 80% of the global lighting market, has resulted in more blue light entering the oceans that penetrates furthest in seawater, and to which marine animals are evolutionarily sensitive. Despite there being more than 200 published impacts of light pollution on marine ecosystems, marine light pollution remains completely unregulated!

Since Thomas led the first study on the topic a decade ago, Thomas and Tim have led studies demonstrating the many and varied impacts of ALAN. Their work led to their cofounding in 2023 of the Global Ocean Artificial Light at Night Network (GOALANN), which in January 2025 was endorsed by the United Nations as one of its new Ocean Decade Actions. Tim Smyth commented: “Evidence Week at the Houses of Parliament was an excellent opportunity for scientists to directly engage with decision makers.  It was a real challenge to convey the importance of your work into a “three minute” sentence, but the policy brief handouts provided by UOP and PML really helped.  It was a real privilege to speak directly to Lord Patrick Vallance in particular about the importance of understanding the impacts of artificial light pollution on biodiversity”. Lord Patrick Vallance is a current member of the House of Lords and is Minister of State for Science, Research and Innovation of the UK.

Evidence Week in Parliament is hosted by Sense about Science and the Parliamentary Office of Science and Technology (POST), in partnership with the House of Commons Library, the House of Lords Library, the UK Statistics Authority, Ipsos and research institutions across the UK.

Watch: Underwater Light Pollution – Understand the Problem with Thomas Davies

Watch: Artificial Light At Night (ALAN) with Tim Smyth

Learn more about Evidence Week