Govt consultation on Marine Bill

[Twister_Ken]

Defra has published a white paper on a Marine Bill and is seeking (ha) consultation for its proposals which include:

• UK-wide system of marine planning
• a streamlined, transparent and consistent system for licensing marine developments
• protection of marine biodiversity, including protected areas
• improvements to fisheries management
• a new Marine Management Organisation (MMO) to join up the approach to the marine environment.

See it: here

The consultation period finishes 8 June 2007.

 

[Richard10002]

Is there any point??

Presumably defra has already decided what it's going to do, consultation or not, and will continue with whatever its' pre-existing plans are, until it finds them unworkable.

Call me cynical, but this is how the Home Information pack has proceeded, with more consultation than you can shake a stick at - in fact, the most useful, (albeit the most resisted), part of the pack, (the report on condition), has been dropped. I think they have said that they have accepted the criticisms but, in reality, they havent got the systems in place to carry out the inspections.

 

[ParaHandy]

it seems extraordinary that they'd go to all that effort (as far as direct marine legislation of leisure craft is concerned) to license a fishing rod and the cost of which, at £6m, exceeds the cost of setting up the MMO