Salmon and Trout Association: Marine Bill

The Marine Bill is designed to ensure clean, healthy, safe, productive and biologically diverse oceans and seas. The Bill will put into place better mechanisms for delivering sustainable development of marine and coastal environment. However, the Bill also includes clauses to update the Salmon and Freshwater Fisheries legislation, for which we have been lobbying ever since the Government announced the review of fisheries legislation back in 1997.

The draft Marine Bill was published for public consultation on 3 April 2008. It was also subject to pre-legislative scrutiny by Parliament over the summer by a Joint Committee of members from the House of Lords and House of Commons, and by Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee (EFRA).

The Government published its response to the pre-legislative scrutiny and the public consultation, in the “Taking Forward the Marine Bill: The Government response to pre-legislative scrutiny and public consultation” on 25 September 2008.

The introduction of the Bill, however, remains subject to gaining parliamentary time.

S&TA concerns

S&TA supports much of the relevant issues within the Marine Bill, which upgrades existing legislation, including the Salmon & Freshwater Fisheries Act 1975. As a founder member of the Moran Committee, S&TA has been involved with the review of Salmon & Freshwater Fisheries (SFF) legislation since 1997, and we strongly supported the Memorandum of the Moran Committee, which was submitted to the Joint House of Lords/House of Commons Committee on the draft Bill at the end of June.

S&TA still has the following concerns;

The intention to replace Sea Fisheries Committees (SFCs) with Inshore Fisheries and Advisory Committees (IFCAs), one of whose new areas of responsibilities will cover all estuaries, as opposed to the previous arrangement whereby the Environment Agency (EA) had jurisdiction over most of those estuaries with significant runs of migratory salmonid species. This raises some concerns:

• The EA still retains responsibility for the management of migratory salmonids out to the six-mile limit, and so coordination between the EA and IFCAs will be vital for efficient management and enforcement of salmonid legislation. It is important that IFCAs exercise their powers to ensure protection for migration of all relevant species to and from freshwater, particularly in estuaries.
• The Bill states that the exploitation of sea fisheries resources must be operated sustainably, and the protection of the marine environment should be balanced against the social and economic benefits of exploitation. However, we believe that environmental protection must be given greater priority. IFCAs should have an unequivocal duty to marine conservation, at the same time as taking into account the social and economic benefits of exploiting sea fisheries resources.
• The EA is the competent authority to deliver the objectives of the Water Framework Directive (WFD), including estuarine waters out to one nautical mile. IFCAs must be given the duty of contributing to the attainment of WFD objectives, thereby ensuring that IFCAs work closely with the EA.
• We support the EA's continuing responsibility for the regulation of fisheries for salmon, sea trout and eels within the coastal zone, and its extension to other diadromous fish. It is important, however, that the Agency and IFCAs co-operate in the sustainable management of these fish stocks, including enforcement of their respective regulations, to ensure the most cost-effective use of limited resources. To promote this, IFC officers should be given the power to enforce salmon and freshwater fisheries legislation and EA byelaws relating to fisheries in their relevant areas of jurisdiction.
  
  We consider this an extremely important issue, as S&TA members have concerns that in certain areas, most noticeably the South West of England, SFCs are presently failing to enforce offences impacting migrating salmonids, thereby jeopardising the sustainability of local stocks, and the EA’s statutory duty to protect and develop salmonid fisheries.

The final Bill must facilitate the close cooperation of IFCAs and the EA to efficiently manage and protect coastal and estuarine waters, especially in the enforcement of legislation to protect the passage of migratory salmonids, and the efficient implementation of measures designed to deliver the EA’s WFD objectives. These issues were put before the Joint House of Lords and House of Commons Committee considering the Bill in July, and we are currently waiting to see whether they have been included in the final report.

Consultation responses:

S&TA. (2008). Draft Marine Bill
Moran Committee. (2008). Response to Draft Marine Bill
S&TA. (2007). Marine Bill White Paper
S&TA. (2010). Consultation on Net and Trap Licences and Authorisations.

For further information see;

Defra. (2008). Marine Bill Newsletter
HM Government. (2008). Draft Marine Bill.
Defra. (2008). Summary of responses to the public consultation on the draft Marine Bill