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A Strategic Framework For Scotland's Marine Environment
ANNEX 2
STRATEGIC VISION FOR SCOTLAND’S MARINE ENVIRONMENT
The Scottish Executive is committed to working for a clean, healthy, safe,
productive and biologically diverse marine environment which, through sustainable
management, will continue to support the interests of nature and people.
We aim to achieve this by:
Clean, healthy, safe -
Improving water quality — through continued compliance with
relevant EC Directives; implementation of the revised Bathing Water Directive,
the Water Environment and Water Services Act (WEWS) and the Water Framework
Directive (WFD); and through implementation of the OSPAR (Oslo and Paris
Conventions for the Protection of the North-East Atlantic) strategy for
the discharge of radioactive substances;
Maintaining and improving the licensing regime for deposits in the
sea - through the development of an electronic database of applications
made and consents issued;
Continuing to improve our capability for responding to marine pollution
incidents - through co-ordination of Scottish Standing Environment
Group, maintaining links with the Maritime and Coastguard Agency (MCA) and
involvement in training exercises;
Improving the co-ordination of offshore renewable energy related development
consents — through the creation of a single focal point for
consent applications which will simultaneously handle consents required
under the Electricity Act 1989, the Food and Environment Protection
Act 1985, and the Coast Protection Act 1949;
Promoting environmental best practice in ports and harbours works
— through the development of policies and legislation on Port
and Harbour matters, in liaison with stakeholders, and the issuing of consents
under Section 34 of the Coast Protection Act;
Productive -
Promoting sustainable fisheries — through the progressive
development of an ecosystem based approach to fisheries management within
the Common Fisheries Policy (CFP), aiming to ensure that the exploitation
of living aquatic resources provides sustainable economic, environmental
and social conditions, in particular supporting positive change in fishing
industries and promoting increased stakeholder involvement in managing resources;
Promoting sustainable aquaculture — through the implementation
of a Strategic Framework which balances the needs of local communities with
potential implications to the marine environment, develops policy on the
location/relocation of marine fish farms, establishes a Scottish Aquaculture
Research Forum and takes forward an Aquaculture Bill; and through the
extension of planning controls to Scottish marine aquaculture (implementing
section 24 of the WEWS Act 2003);
Promoting sustainable tourism — through working in partnership
with stakeholders to strengthen the links between tourism and environmental
sustainability;
Biologically diverse -
Conservation and enhancement of biodiversity and protection of important
marine habitats — through the completion and publication of
a Scottish Biodiversity Strategy, including an action plan on marine and
coastal biodiversity; implementation of the EC Birds and Habitats Directives
in the appropriate marine and coastal areas including the designation of
Special Areas of Conservation (SACs) and Special Protected Areas (SPAs);
and working with the Scottish Seals Forum to manage the competing conservation
interests of seals and fisheries;
Sustainably managed -
Developing an integrated approach to coastal zone management
- through a national stock take to identify the relevant legislation
and the roles of principal stakeholders, and consultation on the best strategy
for protecting and enhancing all of Scotland’s coastline, including
the options of establishing a national coastline park and marine national
parks;
Developing a management framework for the marine environment —
through a Scottish Sustainable Marine Environment Initiative (SSMEI)
project to test, in pilot projects, the benefits of possible new management
framework options for the sustainable development of Scotland's marine resources;
and, separately, through consideration of current management and
rental arrangements for the sea-bed
all based on sound scientific principles established by:
Improving the co-ordination of Government funded marine science in Scottish
waters - through the development of a Scottish monitoring strategy
to meet our obligations under the WFD, contribute to wider UK monitoring
programmes and underpin our input to EU and OSPAR initiatives on an ecosystem-based
approach to management of the marine environment. |
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