MSP - Marine Spatial Planning

The term Marine Spatial Planning seems to have originated at a North Sea Ministers conference in 2002 in Bergen. A definition provided by 'Seas at Risk' is: 'Marine spatial planning is the strategic planning, management and protection of the marine environment addressing the multiple, cumulative and potentially conflicting uses of the sea.' Got it now?

Our very own DEFRA (as in Department of Environment Food and Rural Affairs) has a site which should you up to date at http://mspp.abpmer.co.uk/mspp/index.asp

The original ideas are at the OSPAR site. Please don't ask what that Acronym means as the site conveniently neglects to tell and I can't remember. You can log on to the OSPAR website at http://www.ospar.org

The end result of all this is that the nation's Marine Lawyers, Politicians and Marine Scientists should have plenty to do for a very long time, which is, of course a very good thing.

Acronym of the day MESH

MESH stands for Mapping European Seabed Habitats - The latest update of this site promises an interactive Web based map of North Western European seabed habitats in protype form this month. Stakeholders in the UK include English Nature, Envision, the British Geological Survey and the Joint Nature Conservation Committee

The site is at : http://www.searchmesh.net/

Acronym of the Day - MARBEF

MARBEF - or the Marine Biodiversity and Ecosystem Functioning EU Network of Excellence to give its full and portentous title, is another of the 'lot of stuff' marine species and habitat sites that have sprung up in the last few years.

MARBEF is very helpful in listing the researchers and bibliographies associated with current research into marine biodiversity. It also contains some geographical and biological information in connection with the Yorkshire coast that has been input by the University of Hull. These include some good descriptions of Flamborough and Filey.

Click on the link: http://www.marbef.org/index.php

Daily Acronym - NBN National Biodiversity Network

NBN stands for National Biodiversity Network - This site gives a very simple , but efficient access to species lists across the UK. Everything from water voles to seaweeds and sea turtles has been recorded here.

Try clicking on the simple map squares for a real species smorgasbord, which also shows the recorders and organisations involved in updating this excellent database, which nicely complements the MARLN site.

Click on the link here at http://www.searchnbn.net/index_homepage/index.jsp

Acronym of the Day - MARLIN

Following the recent explosion of organisations with an interest in the UK Marine Environment, there has been a 'scattergun' of acronyms across the internet. Examples are legion, from ICZM (Integrated Coastal Zone Management) to MSP (Marine Spatial Planning) and SAC (Special Area of Conservation).

Making such heavy weather of reasonably simple concepts may inhibit communication. As a retired professor friend recently said, 'biodiversity is simply a way of saying there's a lot of stuff' .

Could this plague of acronyms suggest an inability to communicate? You decide. Let's start with an excellent UK marine website known as MARLIN . The MARine Life Information Network (for Great Britain and Northern Ireland) . Browse those biotopes at:

http://www.marlin.ac.uk/

Filey Against Dredging

Filey Against Dredging (FAD) is a group, originally set up in 1990 , to fight an application to dredge aggregate, sand and gravel from Filey Bay on the North Yorkshire Coast. The applicant wished to be granted permission from the Crown Estates to dredge material within a few hundred metres of Filey's pristine sands.

Understandably, local people were extremely worried about the situation and quickly banded together to form FAD and provide funding for an extensive scientific survey of sand and sediment resources within the Bay. Following completion of the study, the evidence was used in an appeal against the application, which was subsequently rejected; the first time for twenty years that such an application has been refused.

FAD is not a 'direct action' group, but relies on good scientific evidence to argue our case for conserving Filey Bay's beautiful marine environment. We support all marine industries which have conservation of the environment, high in their list of priorities.

There has been a flurry of recent studies and resurgence of interest in the Coastal Zone, since the turn of the Millenium. The forthcoming Marine Bill will have a major impact on the Nation's management of our Marine Heritage. We have started this blog, to provide information about studies and proposed developments that might affect our stretch of Coastline.