The campaign so far…
The Marine Reserves campaign has now been operational for just over a year and has gone very well on many fronts, details of which can be found below. However, there is still a great deal of work to be done as the current draft of the Marine and Coastal Access Bill doesn’t do anywhere near enough to protect the UK’s marine ecosystems.
Early Day Motion
Our target was for at least two hundred signatures, in order for the issue to become visible within the welter of other EDMs.
We are grateful to David Taylor MP, who tabled the Motion. In the event we recorded 72 signatures.
The EDM states:
“That this House believes that technological advances and national commitments have led to an intensification of economic activity in the seas with the potential to cause irreparable damage to marine ecosystems; deplores the fact that at present less than 0.001 per cent. Of the UK’s sea area is fully protected by law for nature conservation; is mindful that the Royal Commission on Environmental Pollution’s Turning the Tide report concluded in 2004 that at least 30 per cent of UK waters should be no-take reserves in order to deliver the kind of recovery needed to restore ecosystems and thereby make fish populations sustainable; welcomes the proposal to introduce a Marine Bill; but calls on the Government to ensure that it places a duty on the Secretary of State to establish an ecologically coherent network of highly protected marine reserves covering at least 30 per cent. Of UK seas out to 200 nautical miles.”
In all, there were 2289 EDMs in the session of Parliament. An EDM needed over 250 signatures to make the top 10 in the list. The EDM which was the focus of the Big Ask Campaign was fifth with 257 supporting MP signatures.
Select Committee scruitiny
The committee took oral evidence throughout June. We asked to give oral evidence to say our bit and amplify the arguments we made in the written submission. Right from the first day’s hearing the committee’s questioning of the witnesses seemed to have been informed by our evidence. However, although there were witnesses gave evidence which was consistent with our view, we were not invited to give oral evidence ourselves, despite persistent requests. It is clear that at this stage, the MARINET Campaign is the only campaigning voice for a DUTY to be imposed on the government to deliver the 30% marine reserve target.
18th June Seminar
The invitation seminar at the House of Commons was very successful, on a range of counts.
The main speakers, Sir John Lawton of the Royal Commission on Environmental Pollution and Professor Callum Roberts, were eloquent and passionate in support of the Campaign Aim. A wide range of agencies, environment NGOs and other bodies were represented, and we made progress in forming an alliance.
Publicity Materials
Work continues on additional materials, and the Durham FoE group are designing additional illustrative material to follow in from the “No Plaice to Hide” slogan of the earlier postcard.
Report of the Joint Committee
This report confirmed that there is a lot of disquiet about the way the draft Bill approached marine conservation. The full text of the 150 page document can be found on the Parliament Publications website.
A typical quotation follows
“We believe that the provisions in the Bill regarding Marine Conservation Zones should be strengthened and recommend a duty on the Secretary of State to designate a network of MCZs including some Highly Protected Marine Reserves”
Their recommendation fell short of asking for 30%, but it seemed very helpful at the time.
Ecologist Article
Haris Livas-Dawes had an article on the need to put teeth into the Bill in the August edition of ‘Ecologist’ magazine. It is very rare to find anything in the media which calls into question the approach adopted by the government in the Marine Bill.
Green Party Resolution
The Green Party national conference in September accepted and approved unanimously the following emergency resolution:
“Conference notes the threat, reported from many authoritative sources, of the imminent collapse of the marine ecosystem, and calls upon GPEX to lobby government to amend the Marine Bill and ask GP members to lobby their MPs for the same, namely:
- To establish extensive highly protected marine reserves around the coast of Britain
- For these to be ecologically coherent and planned to protect the whole marine ecosystem
- For these to cover 30% of UK waters to 200 nautical miles by 2015”
We have yet to work out fully how this may help – but it is good to report the unequivocal support in principle from the Green Party
Tags: EDM, Friends of the Earth, Green Party, MARINET