Will this be a ‘Marine Super Year?’

Back in January the Government declared that they would use the UK’s COP presidency to make 2021 a ‘Marine Super Year’. Four months on, and it could be argued that this honorific has already been achieved – albeit not quite in the way the Government intended. The popularity of the Seaspiracy documentary has seen issues around ocean health catapulted into the public consciousness and stoked a growing demand for meaningful reform. Despite questions about some of the claims made in the documentary, it clear that in this new landscape warm words on ocean recovery will not be sufficient – to be truly ‘super’ the Government’s marine programme will need to achieve a measurable step up in the health of our seas. To assist the Government in achieving this sea-change, Link’s Marine Group has published a Marine Scorecard, setting out five priority areas for marine action that would enable the Government to deliver on its Marine Super Year ambition. Link will be ranking the extent of the Government’s progress on ocean recovery according to these criteria at the end of the year. Over to you Defra…