The Marine and Coastal Access Bill: protecting a resource that is of strategic national importance

After an excellent campaign against the mandatory introduction of biofuels (without due heed paid to the way in which biofuel crops are farmed), the RSPB is now tackling the marine environment. The Marine and Coastal Access Bill is due to be read and discussed in Parliament after the Summer Recess.

As it stands, it is already full of holes -- one would potentially allow conservation areas to be ravaged without the perpetrators facing prosecution.

The RSPB has a pre-formatted letter to send to your local MP which can be accessed at this page:

RSPB letter

You are able to add your own comments, so for what it is worth this is what I appended to mine:

As an adjunct to this RSPB letter, I would like to believe that a strong Bill would also re-impose our sovereignty over an area of our territory we seem to have turned a blind eye to as a nation. We have to put an end to wasteful and unfair fisheries policies, and while it is always going to be a hard battle at the EU level, we can win the fight in our own waters with a strong Bill.

We must see this as being of strategic national importance. Just as we prohibit the building of houses on prime agricultural land, because we know that it is a scarce resource on our island -- let alone globally -- we should see the marine environment as part of this equation. Just because it is out of sight beneath the waves, does not mean it should be out of mind.

Of course all this means nothing if the Bill is not enforceable, and so it is vital that adequate resources are made available to protect our coastline more adequately. But then if that joins up with a desire to bolster our Customs & Excise patrols against smuggling, then there could be a shared budget with an expanded remit to monitor fishing vessel movements and activities. And if all vessels carry transponders then there is no reason at all that this could not be easily monitored with a satellite and GPS.

No, it is down to having the will in the House to take a tough decision for long, rather than short term benefit. That may be too much to hope for in the current climate. But as primary resources become increasingly scarce on this planet, we will face more and more challenges. And adequately managing our marine environment will probably be one of the easiest for us to rise to, as the resource lies within our control.