We provide here a summary of the key features of the Ministerial Statement made by the member countries of OSPAROSPAR Convention for the Protection of the Marine Environment of the North-East Atlantic made up of representatives of the Governments of the 15 signatory nations. (the Oslo-Paris Convention for the Protection of the North East Atlantic) […]
Latest Campaign Posts
- OSPAR Conference report on proceedings Sept 2010
- OSPAR Conference report for members Sept 2010
- Ecological Meltdown in the Firth of Clyde
- Destruction of Norfolk’s Golden Sand Beaches
- MARINET’s Briefing on its Common Fisheries Policy Reform Campaign
- The effects of 118 years of industrial fishing on UK bottom trawl fisheries
- House of Commons Crown Estate Inquiry, input from MARINET
- European Justice and Dredging
- Response to Outer Thames (OT) Potential Special Protection Area (pSPA) Consultation
- Marine & Fisheries Agency (MFA) British Marine Aggregate Producers Association (BMAPA) Support
- Mega-windfarm coming to offshore Norfolk
- Fuel from the seabed
- Correspondence with Anne McIntosh
- Highly Protected Marine Reserves and the Marine Act
- The Threat to Norfolk and its Churches
- MARINET makes submission to EU Fisheries Reform public consultation
- MARINET presents evidence that offshore dredging will cause beach erosion
- Coastal access plan ‘a waste of cash’
- Pathogens identified in sewage contaminated bathing water
- A Definition of the nature and meaning of the Ecosystem-based Approach, and how this translates into a suite of management tools
We provide here MARINET’s analysis of OSPAROSPAR Convention for the Protection of the Marine Environment of the North-East Atlantic made up of representatives of the Governments of the 15 signatory nations.’s Quality Status Report 2010 (QSR 2010). QSR 2010 is OSPAR’s scientific survey of the change in the condition of the North East Atlantic between […]
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We provide here (pdf file) the article published July 2010 by Dr. Ruth Thurstan and Prof. Callum Roberts, York University, titled Ecological Meltdown in the Firth of Clyde, Scotland: Two Centuries of Change in a Coastal Marine Ecosystem. This article records how overfishing in the Firth of Clyde has brought its marine ecosystem close to […]
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The Government’s new generation of Shoreline Management Plans are the pathfinder plans for the coastal defence for all England’s coastline. Their policy of “Managed Retreat” is systematically destroying the golden sand beaches of most of England’s coast, so they will not be available to be enjoyed by future generations.
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We reproduce here our briefing (pdf file) which explains in simple terms the urgent need for CFP Reform and, most importantly, how the our CFP Reform Campaign will deliver a result which guarantees, firstly, that commercial fish stocks will be restored to historic population levels, and secondly, their future management will maintain these restored population […]
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We publish here a study (pdf file), published in Nature Communications 4th May 2010, by Prof Callum Roberts and Ruth Thurstan (York University) and Dr. Simon Brockington (Marine Conservation Society) which shows that developments in the UK’s trawling fleet have masked an “extraordinary” decline in the amount of fish in our waters over the past […]
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This is the MARINET submission, dated 11th March 2010, to the House of Commons Treasury Select Committee considering “the Management of the Crown Estate”. Our submission provides evidence on how the Crown Estate and the UK Government have managed, and often mismanaged, the seabed, its ecosystem and the related coastline in order to exploit the seabed, which is owned by the Crown Estate, for sand and gravel.
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Although the emphasis is on port dredging, the following European Court of Justice ruling on the application of The European Habitats Directive could have a decisive bearing on aggregate dredging and its impact of our offshore and coastal areas.
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A well worded response to the Outer Thames pSPA consultation by Fisherman Chris Wightman acting on behalf of the Anglian Fishermen’s Association.
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The MFA website content seen under ‘Marine Environment’ leaves us with little doubt of its full support of the dredging industry. The exploitation of the environment obviously takes full priority over and above concern for our sea, seabed and coastal environment in their eyes.
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Approval is imminent for a £100 billion investment into third-generation windfarms that will include 1,000 turbines to be placed by Scottish Power and Sweden’s state-owned Vattenfall 15 miles off the Norfolk coast. But construction of the massive project may not start until 2018.
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There are plans to generate a synthetic fuel gas by gently burning coal deposits under the seabed of North and North-East Norfolk and other UK coastal areas.
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MARINET wrote to Anne McIntosh, who has been Shadow Minister for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs since 8th September 2009, to express our concern of the ongoing impasse regarding continuing Offshore Aggregate Dredging. She in turn wrote to Huw Irranca Davies who is the existing Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State in DEFRA.
The Ministers reply to her consisted of the usual output as regards dredging as seen earlier on our website, so a follow-up was sent to Anne McIntosh to cover our response to the content, some quotes and points of which our members might find useful when dealing with the matter.
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A report on the MARINET campaign to try to secure the inclusion of Highly Protected Marine Reserves (HPMRs) within the text of the UK Marine and Coastal Access Act 2009. HPMRs are regarded by marine experts and scientists worldwide as one of the most important features of the ecosystem-based approach to marine management. However the reality is that whilst the UK Government says that it believes in HPMRs, it has failed to incorporate them into the 2009 Act. Thus HPMRs currently have no legal force or standing within UK law. So the MARINET campaign to establish a legal basis for HPMRs continues.
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David Keller of BBC Norfolk tells of the coming catastrophe for Norfolk should no effective action be taken to prevent erosion and its causes.
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The EU has commenced a process which will lead to reform of the Common Fisheries Policy (CFP). Up until now, the CFP has been determined by the Council of Ministers, with MEPs and the Parliament having no say in the matter. However, following the passing of the Lisbon Treaty, the European Parliament is now a party in constitutional terms to the formulation of the Common Fisheries Policy. This means there there is now a wider democratic input, and the new Common Fisheries Policy will have to reflect the wishes of the European Parliament.
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MARINET has assembled a critique, based on a reading of the literature and scientific studies from around the world, of the assertion made by the aggregate companies that offshore dredging for sand and gravel does not cause beach and coastal erosion. This MARINET report explains the process by which this erosion occurs, and presents the evidence behind this reasoning.
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A country lobby group has said the government could save the public purse tens of millions of pounds by scrapping “unnecessary and unwarranted” proposals for a statutory right of access to the English coast.
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We provide here the full text of the publication Swimming in Sewage published jointly in 2004 by the US Natural Resources Defence Council and the Environmental Integrity Project.
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This paper describes the key management tools available to us to enable the ecosystem-based approach to function as a management system which will actively maintain the sustainable use of our seas.
