UK waters will son have a new network of marine protected areas as the founding organisations of the new MPA Fishing Coalition met recently with Natural England, JNCC and senior Defra officials, to begin high level engagement on its establishment. It is observed that with the arrival of offshore wind-farms, the establishment of MPAs represents the biggest potential threat to fishermen’s access to their fishing grounds that the industry has faced in its entire history.
It is told that the statutory nature conservancy agencies at present have a massive budget to provide advice to Government on the implementation of both European and domestic MPAs. Based on this the main aim of the new all-UK Coalition is to give the fishing industry the strongest possible voice at the highest possible level.
It is told that a parallel although somewhat different process will apply to establish MPAs in the waters of the devolved administrations and it is our intention for the Coalition to engage here too. The new body will have two core purposes: The first is to engage with the process of implementing MPAs at a high strategic level. The second is to provide a serious negotiating platform on the hard cases – in those instances where the regional stakeholder projects fail to find consensus and where political decisions by ministers are required.
