Ministerial Address

Fiona Harrison of the Scottish Executive’s Marine Management Division opened the conference on behalf of the Minister for Environment and Rural Development Mr Ross Finnie.

Fiona began by thanking the Firth of Clyde Forum for the opportunity to speak on behalf of the Scottish Executive at the Annual Conference and said that Rhona Brankin and Ross Finnie had asked her to pass on their apologies that they couldn’t be there due to other commitments.

Fiona continued:

“Today’s event is being held at a very important time.  We are at a crossroads in how to best manage Scotland’s marine environment and we have the opportunity to shape the future and to ensure that the seas are managed sustainably for the benefit of all.

Setting the scene and the Scottish Coastal Forum

Before outlining the Executive’s initiatives I would first like to acknowledge the work of the Scottish Coastal Forum and the local partnerships such as the Clyde Forum.  These provided an early impetus to drive forward better co-ordination of the marine environment.  In particular, the efforts of dedicated individuals such as Lady Glasgow have been vital in elevating marine-related issues up the public consciousness.

Marine issues rising up the agenda

There is now greater awareness at the national level than ever before of the importance of sound management of our marine environment that also respects the sustainable use of our coasts and seas. 

And that has been accompanied by unprecedented interest in the marine environment amongst the general public.  Viewing figures for television programmes such as ‘Coast’ and ‘The Blue Planet’ are clear evidence of people’s curiosity about our seas. Opinion polls confirm that our coasts and seas hold a special place in our imagination.

Marine and Coastal Strategy

The time is therefore right for us to consider how best Scotland can rise to the challenge of managing our seas in the 21st century and for future generations while also making a contribution at the UK-wide level and internationally.  That is why the Executive published its first marine and coastal strategy in September 2005.

A holistic marine and coastal strategy founded on the principles of sustainable development and embracing the concept of Integrated Coastal Zone Management is essential if we are to meet the challenges we face.  The 5 interrelated guiding principles of sustainable development:

- Living within Environmental limits;
- Ensuring a strong healthy and just society;
- achieving a sustainable economy;
- good governance; and
- using sound science responsibly

will provides us with a foundation upon which we can build marine spatial planning and conservation.  We must ensure that we continue to benefit from our coast and seas and that future generations have the chance to benefit as much, if not more than we do.

Key elements of this ambitious strategy include consideration of proposals for a Coastal and Marine National Park and testing new approaches to marine spatial planning and other improvements to sustainable management through the SSMEI pilots.

SSMEI pilots

The marine spatial planning work being done through the SSMEI pilot in the Clyde is a very important component of that overall approach. The Clyde is one of the busiest sea areas around Scotland and serves many uses to society.  These range from provision of industrial and port activities to an important location for defence establishments and a one of the best UK areas for amateur yachtsman and other tourism and leisure activities.  If we can get it right here the prospects will be positive for other parts of Scotland. 

The SSMEI pilot in the Clyde is fortunate in that it can build on and complement the work of the Clyde Forum.  Indeed, one of the reasons why this location was chosen was that we could draw on the Clyde Forum’s excellent existing mechanisms for stakeholder engagement when developing and testing the marine spatial plan. 

I also think it is true to say that the Clyde Forum has welcomed the momentum that the SSMEI pilot has brought.  As well as the Executive’s financial support, a range of other funding sources such as SNH, SEPA and Europe have contributed to the SSMEI pilot.  A total funding commitment of £225,000 over three years provides a foundation not only to drive forward some of the original ambitions of the forum but also to put them into practice. 

A similar amount has been made available to the Shetland pilot that is also testing a voluntary approach to marine spatial planning and the Berwickshire pilot receives £164,000.

The Executive looks forward to the marine spatial planning work making a difference in the Clyde and Shetland over the three year period of the pilot.  We also hope they can provide new insights into how such processes can work elsewhere and at different spatial scales.   

Coastal and Marine National Park

Another strand of the Marine and Coastal Strategy that is relevant to marine spatial planning and the management of resources is the Coastal and Marine National Park.
 
Public consultation on proposals for Scotland’s first Coastal and Marine National Park was launched in Troon on 11 October and will run until 10 January 2007.  The Clyde is one of 10 candidate locations identified in the consultation paper and we are inviting views from the public and other stakeholders on these locations and other issues such as:

• the criteria that should be used to select the area
• the benefits a Park could deliver
• the best model for the National Park Authority that would accompany the designation of an area

Key features of the National Parks (Scotland) Act include aims for National Parks that are underpinned by the principle of sustainable development.  That general approach is consistent with the policies outlined in the Marine and Coastal Strategy. 

A further feature is that a Plan would be prepared for the National Park area and that it would have legislative underpinning.  The designation of a Marine and Coastal National Park in Scotland would mean that we would have a local form of marine spatial planning in part of Scotland and we need to consider further how that would fit into an evolving national system.

AGMACS

At the national level Scottish Ministers are very aware of the need to draw upon expert advice when taking forward the marine and coastal strategy.  That is why Ministers established the Advisory Group on the Marine and Coastal Strategy, which will be familiar to many of you as ‘AGMACS’. 

AGMACS is well on in its key task of advising on whether there is a need for new legislation on the marine environment in Scotland.  Work streams on marine spatial planning and nature conservation are close to reporting their findings and advice has also already been delivered on the science required to underpin these wider matters.

Work has also encompassed consideration of the role of the Local Coastal Partnerships.  The paper provided by the Scottish Coastal Forum on conflict resolution, in May this year,  proposed a key role for the Partnerships to determine the priorities for planning and management around our coastlines. 

Local experience  in dispute resolution and integrated Coastal Management, gained over the last decade, is a valuable asset.  The overall relationship between the good practice of local stakeholder participation, the emerging discipline of marine spatial planning, and the aims of Integrated Coastal Management is certainly one that will be considered by AGMACS in advance of its final recommendations.

The marine spatial planning work stream has in particular generated a lot of interest and will be crucial in how we can manage to ever increasing and conflicting pressures on our seas.   Graham U’ren has been leading that workstream within AGMACS and is speaking here today.  He has produced some excellent papers on the subject which are available on the Scottish Executive website which have taken us forward hugely in how a Marine spatial planning system in Scotland might work

Last week the Executive held a workshop to consider some of the issues. Participants, which included some of you here today, thought about first principles such as what is marine spatial planning and why do we need it?  They thought about models for marine spatial planning in Scotland and considered geographical scale, the need for legislative underpinning and how that can best be achieved.    They also number of issues which need to be resolved such as how any marine spatial planning integrates with the terrestrial planning system.  AGMACS will be deciding what recommendations to put to Ministers soon

Consideration of these issues will provide another perspective to the experiences that are beginning to come through from the SSMEI pilots that are looking at more voluntary approaches at a particular geographic scale.  An emerging theme is that there may not be a ‘one size fits all’ and a suite of approaches may be needed.

Conclusion

The success of the Scottish Coastal Forum and the local partnerships in building common ground is now being blended with the experience of the SSMEI pilots and related initiatives to provide novel approaches to managing our coasts and seas.  We are still at the experimental stage but real action is now happening on the ground.  There are promising signs that these approaches can work at the local level and transfer to a broader canvas.

The challenge is how we can combine the experiences of the SSMEI pilots with some of the emerging themes under AGMACS to design a system that fits Scotland’s needs at the local and national level.  And at the same time inform wider discussions that the Executive is engaged in such as Defra’s marine bill and the EC’s marine strategy.”

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