Scottish Marine Bill Introduced
05th May 2009
In: News and Updates
A new Marine Bill was introduced to the Scottish parliament on the 29th April 2009, following an extensive consultation period with environmental groups, the fishing industry, local communities and other stakeholders in Scotland's marine environment.
The proposed legislation has received enormous attention and support from many marine conservation groups, including the Marine Conservation Society.
What it Means
Essentially, the new bill has been designed to balance the need to ensure the marine environment receives adequate protection, but will also aim to streamline current legislation (for example aiming to improve licencing procedures for marine development projects) and attempt to balance (the often conflicting) demands on Scottish marine resources. The new powers will be managed by the new 'Marine Scotland' group, which will be responsible for balancing marine economic growth with environmental requirements.
Of particular note, the bill proposes extending licencing requirements to all activities involving dredging, which will presumably include fishing activities such as scallop dredging. This form of fishing is known to be extremely damaging to marine benthic (seabed) communities and has been the focus of some previous interest, for example in the Firth of Lorn, where local conservation groups have successfully campaigned for a temporary ban on scallop dredging in the area while any detrimental effects on the rocky reefs (which consitute a Special Area of Conservation, SAC) are assessed. It is possible that fishing activities may be exempt from the licence requirements, but we shall have to wait and see!
Seals also look set to benefit from the new bill, which proposes a complete ban on killing seals in Scottish waters, with exceptions only under specific licence or on grounds of welfare. Fish farmers will still be allowed to kill seals (under licence) to protect their stocks however, and it will be interesting to see whether this new system will offer effective protection to the seals. The Scottish Marine Bill will replace the previous Conservation of Seals Act 1970.
There is also agreement on proposals to develop a UK-wide approach to marine management. The Scottish Marine Bill will cover inshore waters, up to 12 nautical miles from the shore, whereas the UK Marine Bill (if agreed) will allow the Scottish government powers over planning and conservation projects to the territorial limit (200 nautical miles from the coast).
What next?
This bill is still draft legislation, and has yet to be approved by the parliament or made law. However, it is the first bill of its type to come before the Scottish goverment, and may well be the first decent chance at giving marine conservation a real bite in Scottish waters. Existing legislation has been relatively ineffective to date, and changes to protect the marine environment in particulr have typically been extremely slow in coming. Anything that improves the current system, both in terms of improving environmental protection and to protect the needs of the people who use Scotland's marine resources (as far as the two can be balanced) can only be a good thing.
The proposed legislation has received enormous attention and support from many marine conservation groups, including the Marine Conservation Society.
What it Means
Essentially, the new bill has been designed to balance the need to ensure the marine environment receives adequate protection, but will also aim to streamline current legislation (for example aiming to improve licencing procedures for marine development projects) and attempt to balance (the often conflicting) demands on Scottish marine resources. The new powers will be managed by the new 'Marine Scotland' group, which will be responsible for balancing marine economic growth with environmental requirements.
Of particular note, the bill proposes extending licencing requirements to all activities involving dredging, which will presumably include fishing activities such as scallop dredging. This form of fishing is known to be extremely damaging to marine benthic (seabed) communities and has been the focus of some previous interest, for example in the Firth of Lorn, where local conservation groups have successfully campaigned for a temporary ban on scallop dredging in the area while any detrimental effects on the rocky reefs (which consitute a Special Area of Conservation, SAC) are assessed. It is possible that fishing activities may be exempt from the licence requirements, but we shall have to wait and see!
Seals also look set to benefit from the new bill, which proposes a complete ban on killing seals in Scottish waters, with exceptions only under specific licence or on grounds of welfare. Fish farmers will still be allowed to kill seals (under licence) to protect their stocks however, and it will be interesting to see whether this new system will offer effective protection to the seals. The Scottish Marine Bill will replace the previous Conservation of Seals Act 1970.
There is also agreement on proposals to develop a UK-wide approach to marine management. The Scottish Marine Bill will cover inshore waters, up to 12 nautical miles from the shore, whereas the UK Marine Bill (if agreed) will allow the Scottish government powers over planning and conservation projects to the territorial limit (200 nautical miles from the coast).
What next?
This bill is still draft legislation, and has yet to be approved by the parliament or made law. However, it is the first bill of its type to come before the Scottish goverment, and may well be the first decent chance at giving marine conservation a real bite in Scottish waters. Existing legislation has been relatively ineffective to date, and changes to protect the marine environment in particulr have typically been extremely slow in coming. Anything that improves the current system, both in terms of improving environmental protection and to protect the needs of the people who use Scotland's marine resources (as far as the two can be balanced) can only be a good thing.