Scottish Marine Bill consultation
After many years of campaigning by MCS and other organisations in Scotland, the Scottish Government announced the consultation for a Scottish Marine Bill on Monday 14th July. MCS welcomed the consultation. Since the Scottish Government controls most activities within 12 nautical miles of Scotland's shores, and fisheries and renewables all the way out to 200nm, it is very important that the Scottish Marine Bill links closely to the UK Marine Bill. MCS is calling for the Scottish Marine Bill to deliver:

• Effective protection for our marine wildlife, including a robust network of marine protected areas for marine life important to Scotland, designated using scientific criteria alone.
  
• A marine planning system founded on sustainable development principles to protect and restore Scotland's marine environment, delivering enforceable local plans.
  
• A Scottish Marine Management Organisation to ensure Scotland meets tough targets for the sustainable management and recovery of our seas, protects wildlife and resources for future generations and works closely with UK and other governments.

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Background
To help secure a more sustainable future for our seas, the wildlife in them and the livelihoods that depend on them, MCS Scotland is campaigning for a Scottish Marine Bill to deliver proper protection for our marine species and habitats and sustainable management of human activities. Over 80 pieces of legislation currently regulate activities at sea, with no single lead body overseeing all the different sectoral activities, making sustainable management at sea difficult and putting marine species and habitats under threat. Since 2003, MCS in Scotland has chaired the Scottish Environment LINK campaign for a Scottish Marine Bill to ensure future generations are able to enjoy and make a sustainable living from Scotland's world-class seas

Why we need both a Scottish Marine Bill and a UK Marine Bill
Since the Scottish Government has control of most activities out to 12 nautical miles, including marine conservation, fisheries, aquaculture, renewable energy and research, and some activities to 200nm (including fisheries and aspects of renewable energy development), securing proper protection for all UK seas requires a Scottish Marine Bill developed closely with a UK Bill. However, since sealife does not recognise political boundaries, it is important that the bills are aligned so that policy goals for all the UK's seas can be agreed. Politicians in London and Edinburgh therefore need to work closely together to ensure protection for all UK seas.

The UK Marine Bill could deliver a Marine Policy Statement to which all UK administrations sign up and the Scottish Marine Bill would then provide the detail on marine planning, nationally important marine areas, a Scottish marine management organisation and marine ecosystem objectives for Scotland.

See the MCS policy page for more details.

What would a Scottish Marine Bill look like?
A Scottish Marine Bill must deliver:

Better protection for Scotland's marine wildlife - this should include new sites to protect nationally important marine species and habitats not currently protected under the European Habitats Directive. Seabed wonders such as maerl beds and coldwater coral reefs, which provide shelter for hundreds of species, Scottish seabirds such as the arctic skua and rare fish such as skate are in decline and in urgent need of protection. New protected areas would help safeguard our marine natural heritage for future generations and enable the Scottish Government to meet important international commitments.

A statutory marine planning system that operates at national, regional and local level with an underlying purpose to protect, restore and enhance Scotland's marine environment and the opportunity for community decision-making and local democracy on marine plans. A robust planning system, underpinned by a purpose to protect the health of Scotland's marine environment, would be win-win-win for marine biodiversity, coastal communities and true sustainable development.

A Scottish marine management organisation - a lead body is needed to oversee marine planning, enforcement and monitoring of the plan

Scottish marine ecosystem objectives are needed to measure the success of the marine plans toward protecting, restoring and enhancing Scotland's marine environment, using suitable indicators such as the status of keystone species and habitats. Basically, we need to be able to measure whether and how are seas are recovering once suitable protection measures are in place.

What is MCS in Scotland doing?
MCS Scotland chairs the Scottish Environment LINK campaign for a Scottish Marine Bill, and has been doing so since 2003. Along with our partner organisations, we successfully lobbied for cross-party commitments to a Scottish Marine Bill in the run up to the May 2007 Scottish parliamentary elections. Indeed, Scottish Environment Cabinet Secretary Richard Lochhead committed the new Scottish Government to a Scottish Marine Bill in June 2007. The LINK Marine Task Force, chaired by MCS, has stepped up the campaign since then by employing a Marine Bill Research Officer and Marine Bill Campaigns Officer to keep up the pressure.

Through LINK representation, MCS Scotland contributed to and supported the Advisory Group for the Marine and Coastal Strategy (AGMACS) Recommendations for Scotland's seas. We are now pushing for the new Scottish Government to take forward the AGMACS recommendations in a Scottish Marine Bill. MCS Scotland sits on the Marine Biodiversity Working Group set up by the Scottish Biodiversity Forum to help deliver targets set out in the UK Biodiversity Action Plan. Through this working group, we are pushing for targets such as work toward setting up a network of urgently needed nationally important marine areas in Scotland.

Realisation has grown that we in Scotland have world-class seas. A Scottish Marine Bill is urgently needed to protect, restore and enhance this wonderful environment for future generations.

Please support MCS and help keep up the momentum to secure Seas fit for Scotland.