Memorandum submitted by the Wildlife and
Countryside Link
Wildlife and Countryside Link (Link) is a coalition
of 33 of the UK's major environmental NGOs united by their common
interest in the conservation and enjoyment of the natural and
historic environment. Marine nature conservation has been one
of Link's main work areas since 1992.
As an umbrella organisation, Link does not consider
it appropriate to submit evidence to this inquiry further to that
submitted by individual members in accordance with their areas
of expertise. However, Link would like to draw the recent and
current work of the Link Marine Task Force to the attention of
the Committee.
In 2001 the Marine Task Force published a Marine
Charter, a copy of which I am pleased to enclose. The Charter
describes the problems faced by the UK's marine environment, including
the effects of pollutants from a variety of human activities and
the serious declines in fish stocks. Governance of UK waters is
currently spread across many authorities so that sectoral issues—eg
oil and gas exploration, aggregate extraction and fisheries, all
of which can impact upon marine wildlife and cultural heritage—are
considered in isolation from one another. The Charter calls for
a properly resourced, overarching framework for management of
the marine environment, to allow for strategic decision making
based on proper assessment of this wide range of impacts on the
marine environment and wildlife.
Link Marine Task Force members have further
developed the ideas and demands in the Marine Charter, and are
now calling for comprehensive legislation to achieve better protection
for marine wildlife and effective management of our seas. Together,
members continue to dedicate time and resources to developing
joint proposals for legislation and policy changes to address
the current shortcomings in marine management. We have identified
a number of areas where current legislation is failing or where
there is no legislation. These include:
— Protection of marine biodiversity,
including species listed on the schedules of the Wildlife and
Countryside Act;
— Protection of nationally important
marine areas;
— Identification, protection and wise
use of marine and maritime archaeological heritage;
— Sustainable management of coastal
fisheries and the inclusion of wider marine conservation objectives
in inshore fisheries management;
— Effective planning, including marine
spatial planning, and development/sea use control; and
In addition, the Marine Task Force calls for
a statutory purpose for new and reformed laws to deliver effective
conservation of natural and cultural marine heritage, and for
the functions of competent authorities to be defined with respect
to this purpose through a duty to care for the marine environment.
The Government has made commitments through
a number of international agreements to take actions to improve
the protection and management of the marine environment, as detailed
in its first Marine Stewardship Report, Safeguarding our Seas
(Defra, 2002). The Link Marine Task Force believes that comprehensive
domestic legislation will be key to meeting these commitments,
to providing sustainable solutions for our marine industries and
protecting our diverse marine environment, and to delivering the
Government's commitment on the ecosystem-based approach to marine
management.
The Link members who will be submitting evidence
to this inquiry include the Marine Conservation Society, the Royal
Society for the Protection of Birds, the Whale and Dolphin Conservation
Society, The Wildlife Trusts, WWF and the Council for British
Archaeology.
12 September 2003
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