29 Sep 2020

Nice gesture shame about the facts. It has been 10 years since the Conservative Government came in promising to leave our environment ‘in a better state than it found it’. So far not much evidence of that – just read the state of the rivers report. BBC ‘Boris Johnson promises to protect 30% of UK’s […]

29 Sep 2020

The Government response to Greenpeace’s action at Dogger Bank – Defra Posted by: Defra Press Office Defra – The Government’s response to the Greenpeace Action   23rd September 2020 ‘There is coverage in The Times, Daily Telegraph, The Herald and Channel 4 News (00:48) of the ongoing Greenpeace action at Dogger Bank Special Area of Conservation (SAC), where yesterday Greenpeace […]

29 Sep 2020

UK marine policy statement MMO/Defra ‘This Marine Policy Statement (MPS) is the framework for preparing Marine Plans and taking decisions affecting the marine environment.  The Marine Policy Statement will contribute to the achievement of sustainable development in the United Kingdom marine area. It has been prepared and adopted for the purposes of section 44 of […]

29 Sep 2020

I came across this news piece on the NFFO website whilst looking for their views on the Greenpeace Dogger bank action (nothing yet). It reminded me of the Yes Minister episode where Sir Humphrey explains to the Minister how you discredit a report. (Interestingly interspersed with Australian politicians arguing why they shouldn’t act on climate […]

29 Sep 2020

Nature – Carbon Management in Shelf Seas ‘Accounting guidelines exist for the recording of carbon flows in terrestrial and coastal ecosystems. Shelf sea sediments, while considered an important carbon store, have yet to receive comparable scrutiny. Here, we explore whether effective management of carbon stocks accumulating in shelf seas could contribute towards a nation’s greenhouse […]

22 Sep 2020

As it goes through its second reading in the House of Commons the Fisheries Bill has lost another amendment that was a critical test of building a system of “world leading fisheries management”. First it was having sustainability as a prime objective of the Fisheries Bill that was dropped and now an amendment that would […]

22 Sep 2020

Activists on the Greenpeace ship Esperanza have started to place granite blocks on the seabed inside the Dogger Bank protected area in the North Sea to prevent bottom trawling. This follows on from their investigation which found industrial bottom trawlers systematically breaking the law by switching of their Automatic Information System (AIS) while fishing on […]