SACN at DEFRA Workshop on EU Marine Strategy

As one of the organisations responding to a DEFRA consulation on the UK response to the EU consultation on the Development of a EU Marine Strategy Directive, SACN was recently invited to take part in a workshop at Nobel House, along with other organisations who had responded to the consultation.

If adopted by the EU, the directive will have many implications for the management of the European Marine environment impacting upon all users, setting quality standards for 'Good Environmental Status' and dealing with all issues of human impact upon the marine environment including pollution and overfishing.

SACN's Leon Roskilly said "There are a number of EU directives already in place, dealing with environmental quality of land, water and air and their introduction has enabled the UK to leave behind the image of being the 'Dirty man of Europe'.

We hope that this directive, once adopted, will lead us to a state where the UK can take pride in the recovery of its marine environment, and more and bigger fish swimming in our seas".

The aim of the directive is not to protect what is there, but to improve the quality of the marine environment, and the abundance of marine life that it supports.