This item was published during the term of a previous administration that ended in April 2007
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Charting a course for Scotland's waters
12/03/2007
New powers to extend Scotland's responsibility for marine management are proposed in a report published today.
Recommendations by the Executive's Advisory Group on Marine and Coastal Strategy (AGMACS) set out a new approach to managing the different uses of Scotland's seas.
Some of the other recommendations include:
- There should be a statutory marine spatial planning system to provide comprehensive management of the marine environment
- Ministers should create a new Scottish Marine Management Organisation to carry out marine spatial planning, marine nature conservation and fisheries functions
- Consideration should be given to a Scottish Marine Management Organisation having responsibilities to 200 nautical miles
- A system of Integrated Coastal Zone Management - a process to better co-ordinate both land and sea based coastal activities - should be considered in the context of marine spatial planning
- Ministers should explore improvements to our system of marine nature conservation for protecting Scotland's biodiversity
Environment Minister Ross Finnie said:
"I want to ensure the long term sustainability of Scotland's marine environment, which supports a huge variety of economic activity.
"I welcome the report which is a significant contribution to our thinking on managing the marine environment. The AGMACS group brought together a huge range of influential players representing the environment, ports and harbours, inshore and sea fisheries and energy generation.
"I welcome the contribution they have made to developing thinking in Scotland on marine management and their conclusions that effective management will require additional powers being devolved to Scotland.
"The recommendations published today place into context the roles for governments, for local bodies and for the wide range of industries and interests that use our seas.
"The report recommends that any new system of marine spatial planning would need to be integrated with potential UK and European marine planning systems to co-ordinate these diverse interests. A Scottish Marine Management Organisation would have the substantive powers to carry out marine spatial planning in Scotland.
"We have come a long way in establishing a strategic direction for managing the marine environment more effectively. There is still much for us to do to take forward the work of the Group, but I'm pleased today's recommendations are founded firmly on the principles of sustainable development.
"The AGMACS process has been extremely valuable and I thank all those involved. We will now look to progress the recommendations outlined in the report."
The Advisory Group was chaired by the Minister and made up of around 25 members with an interest in Scotland's coasts and seas, including fishing, industry, environmental groups and statutory agencies.
The Group considered four key workstreams. These were:
- Science and Research
- Conflict Resolution and Integrated Coastal Zone Management
- Marine Spatial Planning
- Marine Nature Conservation
AGMACS was announced in September 2005, in Seas the Opportunity: A Strategy for the Long Term Sustainability of Scotland's Coasts and Seas with a remit to:
- Review the objectives, outputs and outcomes incorporated within the strategy
- Consider the potential for Marine Spatial Planning and how such a system might operate in practice
- Identify indicators of progress towards objectives, including identifying new research and science needs
- Make input to the early stage assessment , by Scottish Natural Heritage, of potential candidate sites for the first Scottish coastal and marine national park
- Identify the scale of any conflicts between sector based objectives
- Develop a suite of measures for conflict resolution at various scales, and
- Identify whether any elements of the strategy might require underpinning by new legislation and/or new delivery mechanisms.
Marine Spatial Planning is where the multiple and cumulative uses of the sea could be managed in a sustainable way. Planning may be in the form of establishing strategic plans to regulate activity, and to protect the marine environment.