To update the Committee on progress with the Marine Bill in England and Wales

1.1 The draft Bill was published in April with a consultation deadline of 26 June 2008. The NWNWSFC Technical meeting in April had an initial discussion of the contents of the Bill and subsequent meetings of officers in England and Wales have been held.

1.2 The Chief Officers of all SFC have met on the 6 and 13 May to discuss clauses of the draft Bill in detail. Defra were present at the 13 May meeting and have taken comments back for further consideration. They may respond on some points before the end of the consultation. It is likely that the ASFC will submit further comments, depending on how the Bill develops, before the deadline.

1.3 Fisheries occupy sections 6, 7 and part of 8 of 11 parts. The fisheries topic is a very significant component of a very large bill running to some 500 pages. Other main topics are the introduction of a marine spatial planning system, the establishment of a Marine Management Organisation (MMO), a streamlined licensing and consenting regime for developments and the setting up of a new nature conservation designation to be known as marine conservation zones.

1.4 The most significant change heralded by the Bill for this Committee is the abolition of Sea Fisheries Committees and their replacement with Inshore Fisheries and Conservation Authorities (IFCA). The target date for the vesting of IFCA is 1 April 2010. Much of the detail of section 6 is concerned with the mechanics of how the new IFCA will operate.

1.5 Section 7 sets out how wider fisheries legislation will be updated and section 8 deals with enforcement.

2.1 At the March meeting, the Committee received a paper on SFC reform, prepared for Defra. This paper has been developed slightly and is available again as a background paper to this report. The project has not yet been completed and results are not yet available.

2.2 Defra has now set up an IFCA implementation group consisting of representation from ASFC, SFC, MFA, EA and Defra. The first meeting of the group to be held on 29 May will be attended by the CEO. A verbal report on the meeting will be given to the Committee.

3.1 The Welsh Coastal and Maritime Partnership, has set up a Marine Bill working group which will hold its first meeting on 30 May. This group will compile a list of issues arising from the Bill to be submitted to Defra by 16 June. Any further information will be communicated to the Committee in a verbal update.

3.2 There has been no further news on the promised consultation in Wales on the future of inshore fisheries management and SFC in Wales.

3.3 The Welsh Fisheries Strategy has now moved into development of an implementation plan. A number of working groups have been set up to prepare implementation plans for each sector.