Marine Conservation Zones - The Netgain Project

Following introduction of the new Marine and Coastal Access Bill late last year, an organisation known as 'Netgain' has been created, partnered by Natural England. the Joint Nature Conservation Committee, the Yorkshire and Humber Seafood Group and the Deep. Working from the Deep Business Centre, Hull Netgain aims to involve Marine Stakeholders in deciding upon the boundaries of Marine Conservation Zones (MCZ's) in our area.

Netgain staff have said that they aim to empower 'Stakeholders' in the Marine Environment to make the decisions about the new (MCZ's). This is a 'bottom up process' which is "not the usual consultation" . Two committees will be formed in our area, the larger called 'The Hub' will make decisions which will be passed to a smaller 'filtering committee' and then onto a committee at central government for approval, a process that will take around 12 to 18 months. Netgain's purpose will then be fulfilled and both the Committees and Netgain itself will disband.

Netgain says that the project it is not responsible for introducing any restrictions to back up MCZ's this is a job for someone else, the new the Marine Management Organisation (MMO) via the North East Inshore Fisheries and Conservation Authority (IFCA) )

We live in interesting times. Watch this space for further comment, as the work towards MCZ's progresses

ALSF The Aggregates Levy Sustainability Fund

As the British Marine Aggregates Producers Association states on its website at:

http://www.bmapa.org/issues_levy01.php

Over 9 million pounds has been spent on marine research through the Aggregates Levy Sustainability Fund.  Filey Against Dredging welcomes spending on sustainability research and accepts that Marine Aggregate Extraction is necessary to the economic welfare of this country. The concern is that Government organisations, particularly scientists,  should be independent from the aggregates industry. 

Certainly the ALSF is under the independent control of DEFRA and should be independent. Read the research paper on the above BMAPA link and see what you think.  

Marine reserves SAC's MPA's now MCZ's

Those of us who can recall the heady days of the eighties, when the government legislated for Marine Reserves, may not understand the reasons why there is still only one such reserve, Lundy. In the meantime we have had, Special Areas of Conservation (SAC) and proposed Marine Protected Areas (MPA's). Each new concept appears to involve interminable management and consultation exercises with little real result. Now the draft Marine Bill, available for download at http://www.defra.gov.uk/corporate/consult/marinebill/index.htm introduces the concept of Marine Conservation Zones. A great idea but look at the 'catch all' get out clause:

106 (5) 'In considering whether it is desirable to designate an area as an MCZ. the appropriate authority may have regard to any economic or social consequences of doing so. ' .

In our area, we are approaching the end of a two year management consultation for a local SAC. No doubt there will be yet more public consultations if a local MCZ comes to pass.

MMO's and the Marine Bill

The Marine Bill white paper is now out and can be found at http://www.defra.gov.uk/corporate/consult/marinebill/index.htm

A Marine Management Organisation (MMO) is to be set up to control most aspects of the marine environment including aggregate dredging, wind farms and fishing quotas. Sea fisheries committees (SFC's) will be given new and more substantial powers. They may be renamed Coastal Water Committees .

DCLG SAMP & MIRO

Further Acronyms to confuse the unwary - The Department of Communities and Local Government (DCLG) formerly the office of the Deputy Prime Minister - are assisted by the Mineral Industry Research Organisation (MIRO) who manage a minerals sector research programme on their behalf, The sustainable Land-Won & Marine Dredged Aggregate Minerals Programme (SAMP). This is funded through the Aggregate Levy Sustainability Fund (ALSF), which contributed £3.87 million between 2204- 2007. MIRO was founded by a group of companies, some well known, such as Tarmac, Rio Tinto Zinc and Shell.

Theme A of this programme is the Impacts of Aggregate Extraction on the Marine Environment. Items of particular interest on this linked page are the seabed studies, which appear to indicate recovery from dredging within four years and the Item about Building GIS and Environmental Data Management capabilities of the Sea Fisheries Committee. This project includes a mention of Geographical Information about the no trawling areas in Filey Bay.

Marine Spatial Planning - an update

Those Marine information 'groupies' sad enough to click on the Jan 2006 Blog about Marine Spatial planning, will see that the link to information from DEFRA no longer works.

The new link is : http://www.abpmer.net/mspp/index.asp

A final report about Marine Spatial Planning (MSP) is now included

Proposed Marine Dredging Legislation

Marine Dredging Legislation proposed by the UK Government, will radically alter the way that dredging applications are processed. Read the extensive response by Filey Against Dredging at our site: www.filey.org.uk

New FAD Website

Please see our new Filey Against Dredging Website at www.filey.org.uk

SAC's & SPA's

Another plethora of acronyms in todays posting includes SAC's (Special Area of Conservation), and SPA's (Special Protection Area). Both of these areas can be found at Flamborough Head.

SAC's are a European Community thing which was born in 1992 when the EU decided to create lists of interesting or rare habitats and species that might need protection. The UK government legislated to support this concept in 1994 (The Conservation (Natural Habitats, &c.) Regulations 1994). Flamborough Head has a number of interesting species and habitats.

SPA's have a longer history and were brought into existence under EU legislation in 1979 known commonly as the 'bird directive' . They are designated areas which aim to protect wild birds and their habitats/feeding areas . Flamborough Head and Bempton Cliffs are deignated as an SPA.

An overview of SAC's and SPA's can be found at the JNCC Site (tomorrows acronym) at:

JNCC

Details of the Flamborough designations can be found at the :

East Yorkshire Coastal Observatory