3. Consultation
3.1 Within Government
Government departments and agencies consulted on measures contained within the Bill include the Environment, Education, Economy and Justice Directorates within the Scottish Government, the Fisheries Research Service, Historic Scotland and the Scottish Fisheries Protection Agency.
3.2 Public Consultation
The Scottish Government published Sustainable Seas for All - a Consultation on Scotland's first Marine Bill on 14 July 2008, seeking views on proposals for the sustainable management of Scotland's seas and coasts. The Scottish Government was assisted by the Advisory Group on Marine and Coastal Strategy ( AGMACS) and the Sustainable Seas Task Force ( SSTF) in developing the proposals in the consultation document. AGMACS and the SSTF included representatives of a wide range of interests in the marine environment.
Consultation documents were issued to 1,012 stakeholders in July 2008. The Scottish Government published the results of the consultation on 23 January 2009. A number of additional documents were issued after the launch of the consultation, including a Partial Regulatory Impact Assessment.
Stakeholders involved in the consultation process included the Food Standards Agency (Scotland), the Rural Affairs and Environment Committee of the Scottish Parliament, the Scottish Environment Protection Agency ( SEPA), Scottish Natural Heritage ( SNH), the Forestry Commission Scotland and the Crofters' Commission. The consultation was also made available on the Scottish Government web site and members of the Scottish Government Marine Directorate held public meetings around Scotland over the consultation period to provide an opportunity for members of the public, relevant organisations, businesses and other interested parties to discuss the proposals.
In preparing the report contributing to the Partial Regulatory Impact Assessment, we also consulted with a number of organisations in order to obtain baseline information and to determine the potential impacts of the options. This Full Regulatory Impact Assessment takes account of the responses to consultation and to a separate consultation undertaken by Scottish Ministers on the detailed proposals for marine historic environment site protection as part of the Scottish Historic Environment Policy ( SHEP) series.