Friday, 27 November 2009 15:47 TALKS are under way to establish a high-level body to engage with Government on the introduction of marine protected areas in UK waters.
The new body, provisionally named the MPA Fishing Coalition, already has the backing of the National Federation of Fishermen’s Organisations and the Scottish Fishermen’s Federation and is expected to draw wide support from organisations and associations across the fishing industry. It is anticipated that the new body will be formally launched early next year.
A spokesman for the Coalition said: “We recognise that marine protected areas are a political reality, whether as European special areas of conservation or domestic marine conservation zones. If badly implemented, the designation of these areas and the management measures applied within them has the potential to adversely affect the livelihoods of thousands of fishermen, either directly or indirectly.”
“The purpose of the new body is to engage with Government at the highest level, on a united industry basis, to ensure that MPAs are introduced in the least disruptive way. We already have Lyme Bay as an example of a brutal, coercive, approach by Government dictat. But we also have the example of Stanton Bank where the Scottish Fishermen’s Federation negotiated with the nature conservancy agencies to deliver protection for the vulnerable sea bed feature, whilst ensuring that fishing could continue in the vicinity.
“The Coalition’s purpose, first and foremost, will be to provide a strong negotiating platform to ensure that the introduction of future MPAs will follow the Stanton Bank model rather than the Lyme Bay approach.”
The spokesman continued: “Our concern is MPA’s potential for displacement of fishermen from their customary fishing grounds. Loss of access has potentially disastrous consequences for individual fishing businesses and the displacement effect could mean that the repercussions could be felt well outside the designated area.
“We must talk with Government, at a strategic level, about the transparency of the process of establishing MPAs; on the quality of the information used to designate new sites, especially in the impact assessments; on mitigating direct and indirect effects; on the timeframe for their introduction; and on the legitimacy of the consultation process. It is not our intention to cut across or undermine any regional projects aimed at establishing marine conservation zones but we recognise that there will be hard cases where it will not be able to identify new areas by consensus. The Coalition will be there to provide mutual support to fishermen in these circumstances.
“This will not be about megaphone diplomacy but will be about ensuring that MPAs are introduced in a fair, considered and proportionate way. Our hope and aspiration is that every fishermen’s association, big or small, rich or poor, mobile gear or static gear, will become affiliated to the Coalition.
“The Coalition has already met with senior Defra officials to outline the Group’s aims and ambitions and has been broadly welcomed as potentially providing a coherent, strong industry voice on the MPA issue.
“The activities of the Coalition will be funded through a fighting fund that will be established at the time of the launch. Contributions will be on a voluntary basis but we expect to build up a reasonable reserve quite quickly because this is recognised by the industry as a critically important initiative.”
The initial contact address for the MPA Fishing Coalition will be: MPA Fishing Coalition, 30 Monkgate, York YO31 7PF
New coalition formed to fight for the UK fishing industry on Marine Protected Areas
Overfishing Puts Southern California Kelp Forest Ecosystems At Risk, Report Scientists
ScienceDaily — Kelp forest ecosystems that span the West Coast — from Alaska to Mexico’s Baja Peninsula — are at greater risk from overfishing than from the effects of run-off from fertilizers or sewage on the shore, say scientists at the University of California, Santa Barbara. The findings have important implications for the design of California’s Marine Protected Areas.
In an article published in the May 26 issue of Science, scientists describe the first study to compare the top-down versus bottom-up human influences on the food chain of the kelp forest ecosystems.
Paper shows Big Green’s ‘inside’ push for catch shares
EDF’s 2005 document hails staffer’s slot on fishery council as a way to ‘work’ regulatory process
By Richard Gaines
Staff Writer
Gloucester Daily Times [MA]
November 15, 2009
Since at least the 1990s, [Environmental Defense Fund] has been pushing globally to have commonly owned ocean fish stocks converted into catch quotas that could be assigned as rights, creating tradeable market products that attract capital investment. New England has become the primary battleground.
DICTA: Balancing Freedom of Navigation and Environmental Protection
By Commander Trevor Rush
U.S. Navy
Those who study international law know that state practice is critical to the development of customary international law. Sufficient actions (or inactions) by states can lead to a situation in which international law will support that which it once would not because it has become “customary.” As a Navy lawyer, I am extremely interested in state practice concerning the law of the sea. Within that body of law, there are two areas of state practice that are seemingly more in tension with each other as we move further into the 21st century. The first area is the exercise of the freedom to navigate the world’s oceans. Freedom of navigation supports global prosperity. More than 80 percent of the world’s trade travels by water. Such freedom is also crucial for U.S. national security. Not just for naval warships, but equally so for commercial shipping. The U.S. relies on non-governmental maritime shipping to meet two-thirds of U.S. global sealift requirements. For this and many other reasons, the United States has been concerned for centuries with keeping the oceans open for trade and commerce.
Oceans May Trap more Carbon than Forests
Environmental Leader
Marine ecosystems including seagrass meadows, mangroves and salt marshes have a much greater capacity to trap carbon than land carbon sinks such as forests, according to a report from the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN). The organization believes ocean ecosystems are essential to combating global warming.
The IUCN partnership report, The Management of Natural Coastal Carbon Sinks, indicates that quick global action is needed to protect coastal marine ecosystems due to a loss of two-thirds of seagrass meadows and 50 percent of mangrove forests caused by human activities, which is reducing their carbon storage capacity. The study says this loss is comparable to the decline of the Amazon forests.