Reminder - only 3 days to go with the MMO Consultation

[oldharry]

The MMO Studland Bay consultation closes on Tuesday. AMongst the options they are considering is an outright ban on boating in the Bay. This is open sea. If 'they' decide to stop us even going there, it will be the thin end ofthe wedge, as it will create the extremely dangerous precedent of closing sea areas for whatever other reason anyone wants to dream up. At present navigation on open sea can be prohibited for limited safety reasons, or the derfence of the realm. Dont worry if you are struggling with the incredibly badly designed questionnaire. It seems to ask the same question sixteen different ways! JUST SEND AN EMAIL.

Keep it simple and stick to the facts as we know them. They ARE reading everything that comes in.

A new Facebook site has opened supporting our point of view: 'Studland Bay boating and anchor ban 15th December'. I can recommend it, even though its arrived a bit late!

 

[dgadee]

They seem to have made up their mind so better to get your views in pronto: "At this time, we do not believe that management option 1 is sufficient to protect Studland Bay MCZ due to the levels of anchoring activity occurring at the site as well as the evidence for the damage caused by anchoring on the features of the site."

I completed the questionnaire. They do not provide evidence in their questionnaire of the damage they raise. I think it was written by a 13 year old, certainly not a researcher.

 

[oldharry]

Option 1: The key phrase is 'at this time.....' Tying things up legally so that it can be enforced is the preferred option of the conservationists, and particularly the Wildlife Trusts. That way they can force conservation on the public whether we like it or not. Its pretty essential we persuade MMO to review this. Latest word suggests that this is being seriously reconsidered, with talk of VNAZ 's with a new app to guide visitors where best to anchor to avoid sensitive features. This has the added attraction of being substantially cheaper! But the whole thing is in the balance. and we need to make the best case we can!

 

[Tomahawk]

What if anything is the RYA saying?

 

[oldharry]

What if anything is the RYA saying?

They too are going for Option 1

 

[Blue Sunray]

What if anything is the RYA saying?

RYA responds to call for evidence over management plans for Studland Bay

 

[rotrax]

Just done.

A particularly poor document IMHO.

 

[Blueboatman]

Dreadful micro-style, micro driven, micro management-speak riddled document , ugh, duly answered .
Thank you once again , venerable Old Harry?

 

[Sea-Fever]

Submitted my response yesterday, I made the point that any VNAZ/NAZ would be better adhered to if they had some empirical evidence to persuade the boating community that action was needed, so Option 1 should not be discounted.

Secondly that if any VNAZ/NAZ was too large in the South part of the bay it may cause the bay to reach capacity and push the less scrupulous skipper into Shell bay and thus potentially cause a hazard to navigation of the Poole entrance.

Lastly that any NAZ, if implemented, must feature exclusions on the grounds of safety for weather protection, mechanical failure, fatigue etc.

I also said that if any boats are banned it should be motor boats as they make lots of noise and are smelly and full of people who dont care about the environment or other people at all and drink gin and fart a lot and .... and .....ok I didn't actually say that.

 

[Blueboatman]

Second all that Sea Fever
I made the point that ‘monitoring’ or ‘ observing’ whilst we continue to gather another 10 years data on the far far wider , observable effects of changing weather patterns/GW would be a Wise Thing ? . Fools rush in and all that
It ain’t broke etc
The Bigger Picture/Parameters may -or may not!- be changing