MARCH NEWSLETTER

We hope you are glad to receive COAST’s first ever newsletter. It will update you on the recent activities of COAST, summarise marine-related news and deliver a few must-know statistics.
But firstly...

An introduction from the chairman....

Use of the Clyde’s marine environment has been transformed over the past 50 years. We have seen traditional fish stocks crash, sea-angling boat-hire companies vanish and our renowned fishing festivals wane. With these changes has grown a sense among coastal communities that we need more say in the way our local waters are managed. For too long important decisions affecting the sea have been influenced by a top-heavy industry, far removed from these local impacts. On a rising tide of unrest, COAST was formed and after over a decade of campaigning, Lamlash Bay finally became Scotland’s first No Take Zone (NTZ) in 2008, protecting an area of seabed in an important small step towards the regeneration of the Clyde.
But this mini-breakthrough sadly does not paint the full picture. The full proposals for the Lamlash Bay Community Conservation Area – only complete once a Marine Protected Area is established in the rest of the Bay – are being stalled after four years of talks. This is now a matter of real urgency for our political representatives.
Once the MPA is in place, COAST’s work will not stop there. Our organisation wants to help build a network of communities around the country who are now waking up to the importance of local control over their marine environment. Members of COAST are not single-minded environmentalists. COAST is a campaign organisation dedicated to localising decision-making where appropriate. COAST believes the health of a coastal economy is closely linked to the health of the marine environment.
It is for these reasons we will continue to try and influence government policy and legal interpretation. We will work with Marine Scotland and Scottish Natural Heritage, the fishermen of the Clyde and all interested parties to develop a coherent network of MPAs in the Clyde with Lamlash Bay at its heart. We also hope to appoint a marine ranger in the future, be actively involved in marine education, research in the NTZ and the intertidal zone and assist in developing a truly sustainable marine environment around the island and in the whole Clyde. In short there is still a lot of work to be done...

Howard Wood, Chairman of C.O.A.S.T.

Local and national news

Lamlash Bay is a national example
Scotland’s first No Take Zone in Lamlash Bay (Isle of Arran) is now featuring on the UK Marine Protected Areas website as a case study. Take a look for yourselves here http://www.ukmpas.org/caseStudies.html. It will give you a bit more ‘inter-agency’ detail about how COAST has gone about its work so far.

Good signs for the future
It’s difficult for people to understand the importance of conservation and recovery measures unless future generations know what it is they are trying to protect. So we have some good news in this department. After some frustrating delays, interpretation signs will soon be in place alongside the statutory signs erected last June around Lamlash Bay describing the incredibly diverse range of species that live in our coastal waters.

Not everyone has a dive suit handy to see for themselves what is going on in the Bay.

Next time you are taking a stomp along the Clauchlands shore have a look for yourself. For children who might not even know what a Cuckoo wrasse is, let alone seen one, we hope these signs will bring the Bay alive and raise a fresh awareness amongst the future custodians of our seas.

We’re still waiting Mr Salmond...
They say a single week is a long time in politics. So you’d think that a whole year is plenty of time to see political progress. Sadly though, we have been waiting exactly twelve months now since being assured by the leader of the land that the Marine Protected Area would go ahead. First Minister Alex Salmond told a meeting of islanders at a public consultation on the future for Scotland, in an answer to a question posed by COAST that Cabinet Secretary Richard Lochhead would be true to his committed words; in February 2008, Richard Lochhead announced the consultation prior to implementation of a No Take Zone and Marine Protected Area in Lamlash Bay. Indeed a much wider Clyde scheme was endorsed by Parliament’s Environment Committee in 2006. Only one of these commitments has so far been fulfilled. Wranglings persist over the details of the Marine Protected Area and a dangerous impasse prevails.
This non-consensual stalling is failing the Scottish people. The Scottish Government has made a commitment to establish a coherent network of marine reserves around the Scottish coast by 2010. In 2012 that will become a legal obligation. Scotland is simply not yet on track to meet this commitment. With the No Take Zone in Lamlash Bay implemented over a year ago, question marks remain about how Marine Scotland Enforcement are currently enforcing the NTZ and whether it has the ability and political will to enforce effectively a whole network of MPAs.

First Minister Alex Salmond gave an assurance to COAST that if Richard Lochhead committed to the MPA, ‘then it would happen.’

COAST now asks the simple question of the Scottish Government: When will the full proposals for a Marine Protected Area for Lamlash Bay be implemented? (And we’ll keep you updated in future editions of this newsletter...).

Fish farm company rebrands...again
It’s difficult to keep track of what’s happening in the aquaculture industry at the moment and the local situation here is no different. Norwegian company Lighthouse Caledonia, which runs St Molio’s salmon fish farm in Lamlash Bay, formerly Marine Harvest, will soon become Scottish Salmon Company Ltd. Lighthouse Caledonia, itself a creation of the restructured multinational fish farm giant Marine Harvest  and Pan Fish, says the new company – registered in Jersey - will give it ‘greater flexibility’. For a company beset with investment and management problems, this latest corporate re-invention is confusing at best. Lighthouse Caledonia was recently refused permission by SEPA to increase the ‘biomass limits’ of fish at St Molio’s on the basis of unsatisfactory impact on the water environment, but appealed SEPA’s decision. Now it has withdrawn that appeal and hopes under the new company structure of Scotland Salmon Company Ltd to renew its fish farm license which will run a further 25 years. A full Environmental Impact Assessment has never been carried out for the St Molio’s site and COAST remains concerned that a request for any expansion of its operations once it has its license will negatively impact upon the research and marine-monitoring work being undertaken in Lamlash Bay and the NTZ.

What you didn’t read in the newspapers about Scotland’s Marine Bill...
The Marine (Scotland) Act recently received Royal Assent. Greeted with general enthusiasm and optimism by the national press, a few stories failed to hit the headlines – namely that Scotland lags far behind its southern neighbours...
The Marine (Scotland) Act is in part designed to fulfil Scotland’s legal obligation to establish coherent network of MPAs by 2012. COAST have been asking Marine Scotland civil servants and our politicians for over five years just how that coherent network of MPAs is going to be implemented in such a short time scale. COAST have stated on many occasions that the ill-fated SSMEI projects have wasted three valuable years. We look down south to the Finding Sanctuary project set up in 2005 which trialled bringing all stakeholders together. In our opinion Finding Sanctuary and all the other projects now rolled out around England encourage everyone with an interest to get involved. Could it be that there is political will in England to involve all stakeholders whereas in Scotland there is a lack of political will to allow coastal communities a legitimate say in the management of the sea?
Last week the new IFCAs Inshore Fisheries and  Conservation Authorities in England & Wales advertised for Committee members. In Scotland both the SSMEI and, even worse, the controversial  IFGs (Inshore Fisheries Groups) remain a closed shop to new committee members, instead representing largely the interests of the fishing associations.
The Scottish government seems to struggle with its understanding of just who the sea belongs to and the Scottish people who legally own the resource will one day bite the government where it hurts. COAST have warned the Government continually, but in our opinion it continues to ignore the majority of legitimate stakeholders.

COAST packs a Scottish punch at international conference
COAST vice-chair Sally Campbell attended the MPA conference in London in December last year. ’Sea Change – securing a future for Europe’s seas’ was designed to stimulate debate and collaboration amongst European countries as they aim to establish a successful network of MPAs regardless of all those pesky administrative borders. The event was hosted by Natural England.
Despite the fundamental importance of the marine environment to this country’s future, with the second longest coastline in Europe, Sally found that she was one of only eight delegates from Scotland. The event was attended by another 183 influential policy-makers, academics and business leaders from around the UK and Europe.
Sally reported that stakeholder involvement (that includes community organisations like us) was consistently emphasised. Delegates at the conference heard a range of inspiring examples from areas of the world where marine regulation is more advanced than in Scotland. With particular relevance to the future of the Clyde, Professor Mark Carr University of California, reported that after 10 years of a no-dredge zone MPA in George’s Bank, USA, scallops were replenishing outside the MPA.  Olivier Laroussinie the director of the French MPA agency  talked of political will being important in the decision to have 10 National Marine Parks by 2012, and by 2020 20% of MPAs under the French jurisdiction with 10% of those NTZs.  Tom Hooper, project director of Finding Sanctuary, also told an inspiring story of stakeholder participation in the SW of England (www.findingsanctuary.org).

Overseas news

Lochhead meets new EU fish supremo
The European Union’s Common Fisheries Policy is ripe for a radical revamp, says the new Maritime Affairs and Fisheries EU Commissioner Maria Damanaki. Mrs Damanaki wants a new fisheries policy in place by 2013 and said recently: ‘I could not agree more that we need a radical reform to turn around the structural failings of our policy.’ It’s interesting then that Richard Lochhead relished the opportunity to meet with the Commissioner to tell her that ‘Scotland continues to demonstrate real leadership on fisheries conservation ... Working in partnership with the industry and environmental groups we are paving way for real and lasting change across Europe.’ Perhaps once Scotland actually starts implementing its first series of real Marine Protected Areas will Mr Lochhead be able to say this without any trace of spin and that Scotland is catching up with the rest of the world.

EU fleet urged to ‘fish elsewhere’
A petition has been launched to stop European vessels from fishing in the waters of Western Sahara. Despite the fact that no state in the world has recognised the Moroccan annexation of Western Sahara, the EU currently pays millions of Euros annually to the Government of Morocco so that its own fleet can exploit Western Sahara’s rich fishing grounds. Published in November last year, the petition is gaining huge international support with over 12,000 signatories already. If you sympathise with the cause, you can add your name here.   http://www.fishelsewhere.eu/

A few fishy facts folk should know

- Only 0.7% of the world’s oceans are protected (www.wdpa-marine.org)
- 88% of the EU’s waters are ‘over-fished’
- Over the past 50 years world consumption of tuna has increased tenfold, from 0.4 million tonnes to over 4 million tonnes
- Scotland is responsible for 20% of Europe's waters

‘Fish of the month’

The first COAST newsletter hopes to promote 2010 year of biodiversity by featuring a ‘fish of the month.’ In each edition we’ll introduce subscribers to one of the many species of fish which are struggling to survive in the Clyde. First up is no voluptuous page-three stunner, but the flat-bodied, rock-lurking turbot. Take a look.
The turbot is not a fussy eater (picture by Luc Viatour)
Latin name: Psetta maxima
Normal size: 40cm-60cm
Weight: (up to 40lbs)
Minimum allowable catch size: 40cm
Diet: small fish (eg sandeels, gobies and sprats), but turbot will also munch on crustaceans and molluscs.
Habitat: Depths of 20m-80m on a sandy or rocky sea-floor.
The turbot is a species of flatfish native to both the marine and brackish waters of the North Atlantic, Black Sea, Baltic Sea and the Mediterranean Sea. The fish got its name from the Old Swedish törnbut (meaning thorn butt or stump), but despite this lowly name, it is regarded as a delicacy due to its bright white flesh. The future, however, is not so bright for the turbot, in the Clyde at least, unless radical measures are taken to help fish stocks recover. 


Thanks
If you have enjoyed reading this newsletter and feel supportive of COAST’s work, please get in touch. Like all community organisations, we are run by a small group of dedicated volunteers. If you would like to offer any financial support, you can donate via the website. Alternatively feel free to contact us at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .
Thank you for reading COAST’s first newsletter. We hope you are looking forward to the next month’s edition already.

Coming in the next newsletter:
-      A summary of all the baseline scientific survey work done in Lamlash Bay
-      News about an important seminar being planned for October on the Isle of Arran

This newsletter has been sent to marine academics, industry analysts, senior policy-makers, journalists, political decision-makers and the grassroots people living in Scotland’s coastal communities.
We would be interested to receive any feedback and thoughts about our first newsletter. You can contact C.O.A.S.T. by emailing This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .
If you know anyone else who should be reading this, tell them to subscribe by sending them a link on the home page of this website

Our mailing address is: Golf Course Rd, Whiting Bay, Isle of Arran

Copyright (C) 2009 C.O.A.S.T - Community of Arran Seabed Trust. All rights reserved.