Consultation on Registerable Marine Activities and on Marine Licence Applications Requiring Pre-Application Consultation

2. PURPOSE OF DOCUMENT

This consultation is directed at anyone interested in the way activities that take place in the sea are regulated. It will be of particular interest to those who are concerned with the following activities.

Low environmental impact activities such as:

• Recreational diving
• Yacht racing

Larger developments such as:

• Bridge, causeway or walkway construction
• Construction/refurbishment projects
• Renewable energy projects
• Reclamation projects
• Cable installations
• Marina construction

We expect this consultation to be of most interest to businesses and individuals that carry out these activities and to other industries, public communities, conservation bodies and environmental groups that are concerned about their effect on the environment, navigational matters and human health. Many other groups, however, are also concerned with activity in our marine environment and may have an interest in these proposals.

The Marine (Scotland) Act 2010 provides Scottish Ministers with the powers to specify certain marine licensable activities in the Scottish Inshore Region (from 0 - 12 nm) which are to be registered. This supplements the scheme under the 2010 Act which allows the Scottish Ministers to exempt activities from the requirement for a marine licence. This means that, rather than having to go through the application process for a marine licence, certain low environmental impact activities can go ahead, as long as the activity is first registered with Marine Scotland Licensing Operations Team ( MS LOT).

The Act also provides for marine licence applications for certain activities to be subject to pre-application consultation. These activities will usually be larger developments with greater potential for adverse effects on the local community and marine environment. Pre-application consultation will allow other industries, local communities and conservation groups to become fully engaged in the Marine Licence decision making process.

This document seeks your views on which activities should be considered for registration and which should be subject to pre-application consultation. It also seeks your views on the nature of registration and the process of pre-application consultation.

This consultation is accompanied by an impact assessment of the costs and benefits of each proposal.