COAST ‘It is not hard to see the benefits of Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) – for the marine environment itself, and also for all of us who depend on it for food, leisure and jobs – so it was disappointing when leaders of the mobile fishing lobby launched a well-funded campaign against the Scottish Government’s MPA management proposals this summer. Many alarmist and socially divisive claims are being made by this campaign which bear no relation to the scope and impact of the Government’s draft Marine Conservation Orders (MCOs).

Under pressure, the Rural Affairs Climate Change and Environment Committee (RACCE) was obliged to hear additional submissions from some fisheries stakeholders (no one else was invited), a process which has delayed MCOs by at least three months. COAST, therefore, welcomes RACCE’s letter to Richard Lochhead following its consideration of the MPA network, and its insistence that ‘full implementation of MPAs is brought into effect as soon as possible’ and no later than by the end of this parliamentary session (March 2016). This is especially important since the Scottish Government has a legal duty under Scottish, UK and EU legislation to have a well-managed network of MPAs in place by 2016. Time is running out fast.