The Legislative Background: the need for
a new Marine Bill
10. There can be no doubt that there is a very real
need for a Marine Bill. This has been recognised for a long time
both by users, including the industry and leisure sectors, and
by environmental groups. As WWF-UK put it in its summary paper
on its own draft Marine Bill:
"So far, legislation and planning have developed
in an ad-hoc manner and on a sector by sector basis in
response to the rising pressure of maritime activities. There
has been no overall strategy for the management of our seas.
Indeed, decision-making and jurisdiction over the marine environment
is shared by numerous government departments, agencies and authorities.
This has led to confusing, fragmented, often conflicting policies
and a costly bureaucratic system of governance that does not effectively
promote the health or economic potential of our seas."[10]
11. Indeed, much of the legislation in this area,
some covering fisheries, for example, is antiquated and can no
longer be considered fit for purpose. This is especially so in
the case of certain new marine users, such as those involved with
wind, tidal and wave energy technologies, for whom some of the
current legislation must be especially anachronistic. Moreover,
in the context of devolution and the integration of European Union
Directives into UK law, the already complex legal context has
become more complicated still. As a consequence, industry and
other sea-users find some of the existing legislation burdensome
and unhelpful, especially in the area of licensing, and often
face long delays before consents or licences are given. Mr Peter
Barham, Sustainable Development Manager for Associated British
Ports, and Chair of the Sea-Users Development Group (SUDG), told
us in evidence that "some of the port applications can take
over a decade to be resolved… simple maintenance dredge licences
can take up to a year to be resolved
12. Moreover, the existence of different marine authorities
and differing jurisdictions, acting upon the complex web of often
outdated law, makes for disjointed and occasionally contradictory
decision-making and management. Mr Peter Barham told us in evidence
that "quite often the regulatory bodies themselves have overlapping
roles which does not necessarily mean you get consistency of response."
[11] This complexity
and lack of integration is also a problem for marine conservation."[12]
As noted above, our predecessor Committee, commented back in
the Autumn of 2004 about how marine law was not working to preserve
or protect the marine environment by enabling the prosecution
and punishment of offenders.[13]
Very few sites at sea are protected and the differing strands
of legislation for differing users or concerns—whether it
is for fisheries, oil and gas development, leisure craft, or more
in terms of wildlife protection or conservation —lead to
differing precedents and often conflicting judgments. This has
clearly been the case in Lyme Bay where marine conservationists
and scallop dredgers are in conflict.[14]
As Ms Joan Edwards, Head of Marine Policy with the Wildlife Trust,
put it: "we need healthy and clean seas, and the only way
we are going to do that is… to change the way we manage our
marine environment… Business as usual is not acceptable.
We are degrading the environment." [15]
This point, that the problem with current marine legislation is
not just to do with inconvenience, complexity and delay but is
actually resulting in damage to the marine environment, is reinforced
by the Royal Commission for Environmental Pollution (RCEP) in
its memorandum to us: "the state of the marine environment
is extremely fragile, and a great deal needs to be done if we
are to avoid serious collapses, which have already occurred on
both US and EU waters." [16]
13. The Marine Bill must balance differing uses,
priorities and purposes. This clearly will not be easy. As the
Minister in charge of the proposals for the draft Bill, Ben Bradshaw
MP, said in evidence before us: "This is not just a Bill
about how we can exploit the marine environment. It is not just
a Bill about how we can protect the marine environment …
This is a Bill about how we can for the first time bring together
all of the different systems of governance and licensing in a
single coherent and sustainable planning and consent regime."[17]
This conflict—or tension—is perhaps best reflected
in the varying reactions by different groups to the DEFRA consultation.
Some—such as the British Ports Association (BPA)—felt
that the consultation "focused heavily on marine ecological
factors, often playing down the importance of social and economic
factors";[18] while
others, such as Wildlife and Countryside Link, were worried that
nature conservation might only be set as the Bill's secondary
goal.[19]
14. Evidently, sustainable development must lie at
the heart of the Bill—DEFRA is admirably clear on this point.[20]
For some, however, that will mean the sustained economic development
of their industry or business concern, development that should
be encouraged in so far as its impacts on the marine environment
are mitigated or, in necessity, reasonably constrained. For others,
it will mean the placing of strict environmental limits upon human
industrial, business or leisure activity in order to protect the
marine environment, limits that will necessarily inhibit human
activities, and impact upon businesses. The Minister pointed
out "that there is potential for enormous conflict in the
marine environment between different users of that environment
and different interests."[21]
15. The Government is to be encouraged to establish
a robust structure within the Bill for the resolution of conflicts
between those who appear to favour the economic or social pillars
of sustainable development over the environmental pillar, and
vice-versa. However, it is clear to us that all users
of the sea will have to observe environmental limits if the marine
environment is not to be degraded still further. In that respect,
environmental issues, including marine conservation, must be placed
at the very heart of the Bill.
10 WWF's draft Marine Bill summary: http://www.wwf.org.uk/filelibrary/pdf/draftmarinebillsummary.pdf Back
11
Q28 Back
12
Q27 Back
13
see para 3 above Back
14
Q17 Back
15
Q6 Back
16
Ev61, para 5 Back
17
Q78 Back
18
Ev42, para 2.6 Back
19
Ev2, para 8 Back
20
A Marine Bill, http://www.defra.gov.uk/corporate/consult/marinebill/index.htm,
para 4.1 Back
21
Q71 Back
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