Since the Prime Minister announced the ... âEuropean directives for ... Directive? âBeach visitors value clean beach
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Fish out of water or critical sea change? How being part of Europe has helped UK seas
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The UK is heading to the ballot box on June 23rd to vote in the referendum that will decide if the UK should remain in the European Union. Since the Prime Minister announced the referendum, almost every walk of UK life has been scrutinised and the question asked – would we be better in or out of the EU?
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seas in the UK and their wildlife are inherently connected to the rest of Europe, and also beyond. from dolphins to dab, pollution to port development, langoustines to litter, being in the EU has enabled MCs and our supporters to defend the things we love from loss and damage. Marine ecosystems are complex, wonderful and yet still quite mysterious and correspondingly they need careful looking after. in terms of UK species and their perspectives on the EU, they obviously don’t care about national boundaries - they swim where they want to. in recognition of these factors and under pressure from a nation that deeply cares for our wildlife, UK governments and other EU countries have invested in Europe wide and often global legislation to better secure protection for our marine environment at home.
Membership of the European Union has brought substantial benefits for the protection of the marine environment, with the majority of environmental legislation governing our seas emanating from the EU. Melissa Moore MCs head of policy.
so, has the UK being part of an EUwide effort to protect the marine environment really paid off for both wildlife and people? MCs experts in marine protection, fisheries and pollution take a look at how far we’ve come under the EU umbrella and what may happen were the UK to vote to leave.
www.mcsuk.org
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3522 MCS Magazine Summer 2016[P]_MCS magazine 23/05/2016 16:24 Page 10
Rachel wyatt is the MCS water Quality Programme Manager, she looks after the popular online Good Beach Guide and works with regulators and partners to ensure the bathing waters around the UK are pollution free and safe to bathe in.
How has investing in the EU helped improve our bathing waters? “European directives for bathing waters and sewage treatment have been instrumental in cleaning up water quality at UK beaches. Before the European Bathing Water directive was introduced 40 years ago in 1976, many UK beaches were impacted by untreated sewage – we were literally swimming in poo. in 1988 just over a third of those beaches monitored failed to meet even the minimum standard considered fit for bathingoften unbeknown to beach visitors. thanks to the European standards set by the directive massive investment has been made to improve sewage treatment. over 600 UK
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beaches are now monitored during the summer with 95% meeting minimum standards in 2015. as well as setting standards for water quality the directive requires that this information is made available to beach visitors, along with information about the effects of short term pollution. although more investment is still needed, the directive has provided a framework to ensure that water quality at our beaches is regularly monitored, and that this investment continues to be made. leaving the EU would potentially mean the loss of the parent Bathing Water directive. hopefully we would retain the requirements and associated regulations, but could not be sure of this.
Is there a long term, wider benefit of the Directive? “Beach visitors value clean beaches! investing in water quality not only protects public health and the environment, but also delivers for tourism and businesses, supporting a seaside economy worth, according to research by sheffield hallam University, £3.6bn a year.”
marine conservation • summer 2016
Debbie Crockard is the MCS Senior Fisheries Policy Advocate. she works with regulators and fisheries representatives, and spends time in Brussels working directly to influence EU institutions and their decisions on sustainable fishing.
If we weren’t in the EU could we keep our fish to ourselves?
countries would not be legally obliged to engage with us. this could create all kinds of imbalances in how fisheries management and conservation operates.”
Isn’t the Common Fisheries Policy (CFP) a failure?
“Until recently the Cfp was universally considered a failure with failing fish stocks, falling numbers of fishermen, and “Even if the UK leaves the EU, decimated fishing other countries remaining in communities all around the EU will still be allowed to Europe. this situation provided fish in UK waters, due to a serious incentive for all “historic” rights. similarly parties involved to drive British vessels will want to forward radical reform of the continue fishing in other Cfp in 2013. the problem places around Europe, as the could only be fixed through UK presently has the 2nd biggest quota allocation from coordinated, pan-European effort. the EU after spain, landing the following two and half significant catches from the years of heated negotiation netherlands, denmark, resulted in individual countries ireland, Germany, spain and (including the UK), and france. it’s important to note that the UK is allocated about fishermen with much greater opportunity to manage the 30% of the EU’s total catch seas in a way that delivered for even though it has only 13% of the total sea area (ie UK EEZ everyone and ensured the fish (the point of he whole thing), compared to the entire EU could reliably be conserved for EEZ, but not including territorial waters). if we had to the future new ambitious renegotiate this might benefit targets ensured compliance a few UK fish stocks, but it may with scientific advice on what is sustainable; an end to the put in jeopardy our ability to practice of “discarding” fish elsewhere, as other
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further offshore, complex sandbank habitats are prevalent especially in the north sea which are vital for supporting dense adult fish populations (such as sole, plaice and cod), and their food (e.g. sandeels), and to the far north and west of scotland some of the most important deepwater corals and reefs in the whole EU. all these sites have a range of rare and amazing wildlife associated with their unique physical attributes.
through a commercial landing obligation; decentralisation of fisheries management; and the potential for greater rewards for low-impact sustainable practices. the UK took a leading role in both the EU parliament and Council of Ministers to drive forward this positive change. We consider the radically reformed Cfp a success and key legislation that the EU can be proud of – if implemented correctly. We’re extremely concerned that an exit from the EU would unpick the largely successful efforts that have already taken place to ensure we can all continue to enjoy a fish supper.”
Dr Jean-Luc Solandt is the MCS Principal Specialist, MPAs. he works extensively on protecting marine species and habitats by influencing the designation and management of marine protected areas, (nature reserves in the sea) increasingly with EU partners.
what has being part of the EU done for marine wildlife? “the majority of UK Marine protected areas (Mpas) originate from the EU habitats and Birds directives (collectively known as the nature directives) which were formed some time ago by the EU with key UK government input. today these directives continue to form the backbone for marine protection and recovery in the UK. the habitats that these Mpas protect include: estuaries, saltmarsh, mudflats, seacliffs and dune habitats covering coastal zone habitats which are vital spawning and nursery grounds for fish and feeding and nesting areas for birds.
the habitats directive has resulted in much improved fisheries management measures for inshore sites,
closures of significant areas of the sea to scallop dredging and mitigation of dredging impacts through port expansion. a recent government review on their implementation has found they are an insignificant block to economic growth, previously touted by some as a reason why the directives should be reviewed. it’s simply not the case. implementation could be better and more consistent, but there is no doubt that the nature directives are critical to the protection of the UK’s marine wildlife and the habitats they depend on.”
wHAT ELSE MIGHT BE AT STAKE? “a range of other directives help protect our seas, including, the Water framework directive, and the Marine strategy framework directive (Msfd). the Msfd is the first all-encompassing piece of European legislation specifically aimed at the protection of the marine environment with an objective to achieve “Good Environmental status” in all European waters by 2020 at the latest.”
what would happen to the Directives if the UK was not in the EU? “the range of regulations which transpose these directives into UK law would still apply, but we have sufficient reason to suppose these might be eroded overtime as teh presure to deliver from the EU subsided. the result of this would likely be devastating for marine wildlife and habitats. the countries that are not part of the EU, but which share trade agreements with the EU (that are within the European Economic area) do tend to apply many of the EU directives to ensure fair trade, but crucially, they are not obliged to implement the habitats directive or Bathing Water directive. and so this route for the UK would likely result in the same outcome.”
Melissa Moore, MCs head of policy.
www.mcsuk.org
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