Views needed on Marine Net Gain priorities
All marine stakeholders are invited to share their views on proposed priorities, actions and the scale of opportunity for marine restoration and enhancement in UK waters.
Background
There is widespread recognition of the need to restore and enhance the marine environment. This is supported by the commitment in the Government’s 25 year Environment Plan to reverse the loss of marine biodiversity and, where practicable, restore it.
Net Gain has been identified as an important mechanism that could contribute to halting and reversing marine biodiversity loss.
About the survey
This survey has been commissioned by the Offshore Wind Evidence and Change (OWEC) Strategic Net Gain Task and Finish Group, which is working closely with Defra’s Offshore Wind Enabling Actions Programme (OWEAP).
The Task and Finish Group commissioned an initial survey in July, inviting respondents to identify priorities for Marine Net Gain. The Group greatly appreciates the time and effort put into responses to the first survey, which have helped shape the Group’s views on strategic net gain priorities.
This follow-up survey seeks to understand the level of consensus around the identified priorities. We would like as many marine stakeholders as possible to participate in this second survey to support the Task and Finish Group in developing its recommendations for strategic priorities for Marine Net Gain. These will inform OWEAP’s development of Marine Net Gain policy for England, which will be consulted on later this year. They will also enable marine industries to play a significant role in restoring marine environments through their commitment to Net Gain.
The suggested priorities have been identified based on an understanding of stakeholder views, historic losses, feasibility of measures and consideration of the extent to which industry might feasibly contribute to them. These include actions that might be taken in the offshore marine environment, coastal and intertidal areas, as well as those that might be taken on land that benefit the marine environment.
The Task and Finish Group has also prepared a document which pulls together the results of the discussions within the group, the resulting assumptions determining strategic targets, and how these may be delivered, known as the draft assumptions paper. If you have any comments regarding the assumptions paper, please contact vicky.west@abpmer.co.uk.
We are inviting marine stakeholders to participate in the survey, and welcome your views on priority actions for marine restoration and enhancement in UK waters. All responses will be anonymised in any publications. It is intended that a summary of the survey results will be included in the Task and Finish Group’s report, which will be publicly available.
The survey should take approximately 20-30 minutes to complete; please respond by 10 September.
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