Page 32 - Lawtext Environmental Law & Management Journal Sample

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THE UK DRAFT MARINE BILL – WILSON, TRIGGS :: :: : (2008) 20 ELM 143
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pressures include the impact of these new rights upon Nature conservation measures
private property, the impact on sensitive areas such as
cliffs with breeding bird populations, and all the pressures Marine Conservation Zones are a partial answer to some
inherent in the provision of public access to remote areas of the ecological needs for local habitats and species
in an overcrowded island. protection. The pressures from fishing and extracting oil
and gas have taken their toll on our marine environment.
Environmental protection in the draft Bill Habitats have been damaged, resulting in a decline in a
number of species. An example is Lyme Bay in Dorset which
Marine Strategy Directive has been badly damaged by fishing, to the point that reefs
which used to stand high above the seabed are now worn
8
The Marine Strategy Directive has been developed using down to the floor. It will take years for a habitat like this
an eco-system based approach, describing the to recover, and so there has been an increasing push to
environmental status of the waters and the aims for them, bring in measures such as Marine Conservation Zones
recording the impacts upon them, and then developing a (MCZs) which will provide designated areas with total
programme of measures to achieve good environmental protection from all forms of fishing.
status. A programme of measures must include the At the moment only 2.2 per cent of UK waters are
establishment of protected areas covering the range of protected. Research by the University of Bangor for Defra
marine habitats, and in this way the Marine Strategy suggests 14–20 per cent of our waters must be covered
Directive is closely modelled in structure on the Water if habitats and species are to be sufficiently protected. 9
Framework Directive, and its obligations are intended to The Marine Bill aims to strengthen marine conservation
follow on from the achievement of good environmental and Defra sets 2012 as a target date for having an
status in inland fresh waters and coastal waters covered ‘ecologically coherent network’ of well managed marine
by that directive. The draft Marine Bill will enable the UK protected areas.
Government to implement the Marine Strategy Directive It is intended that the MCZs will have varying degrees
when enacted. This kind of framework directive starts small of protection. What protection an MCZ receives in theory
in terms of visibility and impact, and grows very large as will depend mainly on how damaged the marine area is
the deadlines for implementation and effective already; however, in practice it will probably depend on
programmes of measures approach. whether there are competing interests in the area and how
important (or lucrative) these are. This is reflected in the
Climate change fact that when considering what areas should be
designated as MCZs the Bill proposes that socio-
Climate change is thought to have been responsible for economic factors must be taken into account and
several visible alterations in the numbers and range of evaluated along with environmental concerns.
various species, for example, the fall in quantities of Whilst in the long-term, once up and running, MCZs
plankton or prey species, such as sand eel, in particular should provide a partial answer to some of the ecological
areas, resulting in huge changes in seabird numbers; the needs for local habitats and species protection, the Bill is
movement of some species northwards as sub-tropical less specific about exactly what criteria will be applied to
species seek out British waters and British species move the selection of such zones initially, and then how the
further north, and of course the ever increasing problems protections within them will be enforced. Several
of flooding and coastal erosion. Similar effects are being conservation bodies have called for improvements to the
observed in other seas, such as the annual fish surveys off Bill in this area, and for a right to appeal if an application
Narragansett Bay and Rhode Island in America. Long term to designate an area a MCZ is rejected. In the long term
climate change impacts could include changes to the MCZs will be vital for allowing damaged areas of UK waters
circulation of the thermohaline currents and rising sea to recover and for improving sustainability of the
levels from melting arctic ice sheets. ecosystems that live there. In a more general sense it will
In the shorter term, however, these changes will have be interesting to see how much socio-economic factors
more immediate effects. For example, if considering the influence the designation of MCZs and the level of
effect on the local environment of thermal discharges from protection they receive.
a proposed new coastal power station, it will be Also highly relevant will be the way in which the
increasingly important not to overlook potential Habitats Directive is applied, with the recent European
cumulative effects from factors such as warmer seas Court of Justice decision in the Waddenvereniging case
through climate change. Rising sea levels raise more underlining the fact that regulatory authorities can only
politically controversial issues such as the costs of authorise developments if sure that they will not adversely
maintaining sea defences, and the policies of ‘managed
retreat’, with their huge implications especially for coastal
communities in the east of the country.
8 Defra banned scallop dredging in a large part of Lyme Bay on 19 June
2008, on the basis of the scientific advice received and after a public
consultation (see http://www.defra.gov.uk/news/2008/080619a.htm).
9 See Defra’s leaflet ‘Protecting our marine environment through the
Marine Bill’ (http://www.defra.gov.uk/marine/pdf/legislation/protect-
marine-env-leaflet.pdf).

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