This item was published during the term of a previous administration that ended in April 2007
Listen
New programme for marine environment
12/09/2005
Three pilot projects aimed at improving the management of the marine and coastal environment were announced today as the Executive's Marine and Coastal Strategy was published.
The £800,000 Sustainable Marine Environment Initiative has Shetland, the Firth of Clyde and the Berwickshire coast as the locations for testing innovative approaches to marine and coastal management over a three year period.
Environment and Rural Development Minister Ross Finnie said:
"Our vision is of a clean, healthy, safe, productive and biologically rich marine and coastal environment which is managed to meet the long term needs of nature and people.
"Scotland's coasts and seas could support some 25,000 jobs in fishing, energy and tourism.
"The challenge we face is to manage our marine and coastal activity in a way which enables each sector to be successful without either compromising the ability of others to deliver their full potential or damaging the marine environment on which those jobs depend.
"The three pilot projects will test new ways of managing different sea areas next to urban, rural and island communities and will help us to determine what, if any, legislation is required to better safeguard our seas and coastal communities."
A fourth pilot area for the Sounds of Mull is under consideration and an announcement on this is expected later in the year.
A new marine action group, to be chaired by the Minister, will be established to provide advice on delivering the objectives of the Marine and Coastal Strategy, including proposals to establish Scotland's first Marine and Coastal National Park.
One aim of the Shetland and Clyde pilots is to assess the potential benefits of a marine spatial planning approach in managing different uses of the marine areas, bringing together a wide range of stakeholders to develop and implement a marine spatial plan over a three year period.
The Berwickshire pilot will also run for three years and involves similar partnerships but is focused on demonstrating the social and economic benefits of improving the sustainable management of the marine environment.
The proposed Sound of Mull pilot would also assess the potential of a marine spatial planning approach and co-operation across local authority boundaries.
These are not protected areas for nature conservation nor coastal and marine national parks (which would require a statutory designation and the creation of a national park authority). Instead they provide a new mechanism for stakeholders to work together in partnership using existing powers to promote the sustainable development of Scotland's marine environment.
The new stakeholder group will:
- assess impacts, conflicts and options for conflict resolution
- review objectives and set performance indicators; develop the concept of marine spatial planning (in part using the experiences of the SSMEI pilots)
- consider what legislative change might be needed for Scotland; and input to the assessment being carried out by SNH on options for a coastal and marine national park