Introduction
The interim Report of the UK Government's Review of Marine
Nature Conservation Working Group was submitted to Ministers in
March 2001. One of the key recommendations of the Working Group was
the promotion of a Pilot Scheme, at the regional sea scale, to test
a proposed 'framework' for nature conservation and examine how far
the conservation management needed to implement this framework
could be delivered through existing legal, administrative and
enforcement systems. The Irish Sea was chosen as the area for this
Pilot.
The aims of the Pilot are to:
- test the framework proposed by the paper 'An implementation
framework for the conservation, protection and management of
nationally-important marine wildlife in the UK' at the scale
of the Irish Sea;
- determine the potential of existing regulatory and other
systems for delivering effective marine nature conservation;
identify any gaps and recommend measures to fill the gaps
identified;
- evaluate the efficiency and effectiveness of current governance
and enforcement regimes in implementing current legislation
relevant to marine nature conservation, and make recommendations
for improvements;
- test ways of integrating nature conservation into key sectors
(e.g. fisheries, energy, transport, minerals, tourism etc) in order
to make an effective contribution to sustainable development on a
regional basis.
Objectives of this Report
The Joint Nature Conservation Committee commissioned this
project report as part of the Irish Sea Pilot Project. Its
objectives are to:
- Prepare an overview of the current coastal and marine spatial
planning framework in place for the Irish Sea;
- Identify and consider the principles and benefits of good
coastal and marine spatial planning;
- Evaluate the need and opportunity to improve coastal and marine
spatial planning;
- Develop an outline of an improved coastal and marine spatial
planning framework and identify practical steps towards
implementation.
Given the context of this report, we have used examples and
made reference largely to the natural environment, and especially
to ecosystems and biodiversity issues when discussing environmental
topics. Any new spatial planning system would, of course, include
all aspects of the marine environment, including its physical,
cultural and historical dimensions.
The Irish Sea Pilot Project Area
For the purposes of this project, the Irish Sea is bounded in
the north by a line between the Mull of Kintyre in Scotland and
Fair Head in Northern Ireland and in the south by a line between
Linney Head in Wales and Mine Head in Ireland. It therefore
includes the administrative jurisdictions of England, Ireland,
Northern Ireland, Scotland, Wales and the Isle of Man.
Marine Spatial Planning Defined
The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra)
has suggested a definition of a marine spatial plan as "a
strategic plan for regulating, managing and protecting the marine
environment that addresses the multiple, cumulative and potentially
conflicting uses of the sea."
The above definition appears to assume that marine spatial
"planning" will include the "management" of ongoing uses or
activities. However, other papers that address the potential scope
of marine spatial planning prefer to express the scope as "marine
spatial planning and management" (Birdlife International
2003).
The definition and scope of marine spatial planning was
further explored in a CoastNet conference in October 2003 and its
proceedings will be widely disseminated. The Scottish Coastal Forum
(SCF) has defined the purpose of marine spatial planning as
"two fold: (a) to secure sustainable and integrated development
which balances and, where appropriate advances, economic, social
and environmental objectives, and considers the implications of the
ecosystem approach; and (b) to allocate space in inshore waters in
a rational manner which minimises conflicts of interest and
maximises synergistic relations."
It is clear that in order to fulfil the aspirations of the
stakeholders urging that a marine spatial planning system be
introduced, it will be necessary for that system to embrace the
management of ongoing activities as well as the regulation of
proposals for change.
In that way it would be markedly different from the land use
planning system and so the debate about marine spatial planning
must continue to include whether the system should regulate ongoing
activities as well as proposed changes.
Furthermore, a marine spatial planning system does not
necessarily have to lead to a single system of planning, producing
a single plan, or single set of plans. It could be established more
as a discipline, or a process, that may result in several plans -
expressions of proposals and policies B but which are better
integrated and their spatial implications are better understood and
coordinated. Marine spatial planning does not necessarily have to
lead to a single marine spatial plan.
Respecting these different visions for a marine spatial
planning system, for the purposes of this paper, it needs to
include three ongoing processes:
a) plan-making - generating and adopting one
or more integrated plans or policy frameworks, which have strong
spatial dimensions, for the protection, enhancement and sustainable
use and development of the sea and its resources; and
b) implementing the plan enabling change and
encouraging improvement and investment by the execution of
programmed works, and by the regulation, management and enforcement
of proposed changes and ongoing activities in, on, over and under
the sea, all in accordance with the plans;
c) enforcement, monitoring and performance
review – enforcing regulation, assessing the effectiveness
of the plans, their time scales and implementation mechanisms,
considering ways in which they need to be improved and establishing
review and adaptation procedures.