Facilitating marine nature restoration through legislation: analysis of consultation responses and Scottish Government response

Introduction

In March this year Scottish Government published a consultation on Facilitating Marine Nature Restoration Through Legislation. The consultation explored two related legislative proposals:

1) To take powers to introduce a registration process for marine restoration projects that fall below a threshold of environmental impact, in lieu of having to apply for a marine licence.

2) To enable Scottish Ministers to apply Marine Conservation Orders (MCOs) to protect habitats or species undergoing restoration from potentially damaging activities.

In addition to these two proposals the consultation also asked about two further amendments to the existing provisions for MCOs. The first related to simplifying a technical element of the consultations procedure for MCOs by adjusting the requirement to consult on the draft Order/wording of an MCO to a requirement to consult on the draft proposal. The second related to extending the use of MCOs to allow for the protection of European marine sites that do not overlap or adjoin a Marine Protected Area (MPA).

The consultation ran from 21 March to 16 May and received a total of 51 responses. Of the 51 responses, 20% were from individuals and 80% were respondents representing organisations. Where responses were made on behalf of an organisation these could be categorised as follows^[1]: Aquaculture organisations/groups (10%), Businesses/private sector organisations (5%), Community organisations and groups (7%), Energy providers (7%), Environmental organisations (32%), Fishing organisations/groups (12%), Public sector bodies including regulators and local authorities (15%), Recreation, tourism, and culture (5%), and Restoration organisations (5%).

A full list of organisations who responded is included at Annex A.

The full analysis of responses can be found on pages 7-39. Our response to the main outcomes of the consultation is set out below. The responses submitted, and views expressed within them, are not necessarily representative of the population as a whole. Respondents to any public consultation are self-selecting, and those with an interest in the topic being addressed are more likely to participate than those with little to no interest.