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MARINE CONSERVATION ZONE PROJECT WALES
TECHNICAL ADVISORY GROUP
Wednesday 20th January, 2010
Welsh Assembly Government Offices, Picton Terrace,
Carmarthen.
1:00pm-4:00pm
Minutes
Present:
Professor Steve Hawkins - Chair, Bangor University
Professor Mike Kaiser - Bangor University
Dr Mike Christie - Aberystwyth University
Dr Simon Jones - University of Glamorgan
Dr Kirsten Ramsay - CCW
Dr Graeme Hays -Swansea University
Dr Jenn Lawson - CCW
Beth Stoker - JNCC
Mark Gray - Seafish
Andy Mackie - National Museum, Cardiff
Dr Rhoda Ballinger - Cardiff University
Dr Katherine Raymond -Technical Services, WAG
Mike Cummings - Sustainable Energy, WAG
Phil Wensley - Fisheries Enforcement, WAG
Dr Sian Limpenny - CEFAS
Dr Shaun Russell -Wales Environment Research Hub
Dr Hannah Toberman -Wales Environment Research Hub
Jennifer Dack -Environment Agency Wales
Julia Williams - Marine Branch, WAG
Louise George -Marine Branch, WAG
Viv Collins - WAG Secretariat
Apologies
Professor Callum Roberts -York University
Jamie Moore -The Crown Estate
Andrew Hobden - Economic Advice Division, WAG
Mike Jones - Fisheries Policy, WAG
Lynda Warren - Chair of Stakeholder and Citizen Engagement Group
Summary of Actions: Current
a. Beth to arrange for draft ecological guidance for the English MCZ projects to be sent to WAG Marine Branch on ‘in confidence’ basis
b. WAG Marine Branch to contact Ashley Smith, Defra about WAG attendance at the proposed Defra workshop on data gathering.
c. WAG to discuss with WAG Fisheries Unit shared opportunities from Seafish secondment.
d. All to send comments regarding draft ecological guidance, including the need for additional criteria, to Kirsten Ramsay.
e. All to consider and advise WAG/CCW of additional attendees for the planned workshop in April.
f. CCW with WAG to organise the workshop in April.
g. WAG with Mike Christie and CCW to consider the need for establishing a socio-economic sub-group and report to Chair.
h. WAG to contact Defra for an update regarding the Marinemap project.
i. WAG with Chair to update and finalise the TAG terms of reference.
Actions from last meeting
a. WAG presented a refined project background document as requested at the last meeting
b. CCW circulated a revised paper on ecological selection criteria.
c. Comments had been received on the draft Terms of Reference.
d. Mike Kaiser informed the group that funding had been secured for someone to be employed by Seafish for two years to identify data gaps and needs for taking Welsh Fisheries forward for eco-labelling.
Approval of minutes from meeting held on 23rd November, 2009
1. The minutes from the last meeting were approved.
2. New members were reminded of the specific approach to the MCZ Project adopted in Wales. Louise George provided an outline of the aims and objectives of the project in Wales which is to use the new Marine Conservation Zone (MCZ) powers to contribute to an ecologically coherent UK network of marine protected areas. The emphasis in Wales will be on complementing our existing suite of European sites by designating a number of highly protected MCZs. It was acknowledged that the approach in Wales was about ecosystem functioning (protecting the ordinary as well as the special) and that this was in contrast to existing designations that have a feature based approach.
3. Mike Kaiser provided feedback from the Science Advisory Panel (SAP) which has been established by Defra to assist their MCZ work. The SAP is an independent body which has been established to support the four English regional projects by offering objective scientific assessment of site proposals. Mike highlighted the need for coherence across the projects with the methodology to be adopted for data collection. It was suggested that the methodology adopted by England should be considered for any workshops to be held in Wales.
4. Beth Stoker advised that JNCC and NE are developing ecological guidance for use by the English regional projects to ensure that there are standardised procedures. JNCC are also keen to establish standardised procedures and a protocol for data collection and this is currently being developed. In terms of socio-economic criteria, the regional projects have their own stakeholder groups consisting of between 40-60 people. The SAP plan to host a workshop for the regional projects to ensure that data isgathered in a uniform way, it was recommended that WAG/Wales project attends this workshop also.
ACTION: JNCC to circulate the draft ecological network guidance ‘in confidence’ to WAG Marine Branch.
ACTION: WAG to contact Ashley Smith, Defra, about attendance at the proposed workshop on data gathering.
Feedback from the Steering Group
5. Steve Hawkins provided an update from the first meeting of the Steering Group. It was a large meeting with representatives from most WAG Departments and relevant interests from the public sector. Steve provided feedback from the first TAG meeting and Lynda Warren provided an update from the Stakeholder and Citizen Engagement Group which helped to clarify the roles of the respective groups. It was suggested that the Steering Group should meet bi-monthly not quarterly which raised the issue of resources and members’ time. Steve highlighted to the Steering Group the potential need for resources but, until the data gaps were known, it would be difficult to work out the detailed resource implications.
Feedback from the Stakeholder and Citizen Engagement Group (SCEG)
6. Julia Williams provided an update on behalf of the Chair Lynda Warren. The role of the SCEG is not to be representative of sectoral interests as is the case of the regional groups in England. Its role is to act as a channel and conduit to stakeholder networks in order to inform decisions, and to advise the Steering Group on how to engage with stakeholders and wider public in Wales. The main actions discussed at the first meeting were in relation to data availability; members were tasked to consider what data or information they could provide through their networks.
Data collection
7. Mike Kaiser informed the group that the Seafish Board had approved funding for a two year secondment to WAG Fisheries Unit to identify data gaps and needs for Welsh fisheries eco-labelling. The person appointed would be an employee of Seafish but would be working with the WAG Fisheries Unit in Aberystwyth. There was an opportunity to engage and reap shared benefits for this project.
ACTION: WAG to discuss shared opportunities from Seafish employee with WAG Fisheries Unit.
8. During the discussion a number of issues were raised as needing further consideration including: whether there is a baseline need for additional ecological survey work and if yes, on which areas it should focus; or whether it would be more appropriate to focus on identifying potential MCZs in areas where there is already a high level of confidence in the data.
Site selection criteria
9. Kirsten Ramsay presented an outline of the draft ecological criteria as a starting point to the discussion. Twelve ecological criteria had been identified and questions were raised such as - were these the right criteria, was the weighting right and what is a habitat? The paper also suggested that Eunis level 3 biotopes be used which was considered appropriate by the Group. More detailed consideration was required in order to take this work forward and it was suggested that this be done through a workshop. A wider audience was envisaged for this workshop and members were encouraged to think of who should be invited, in addition to Finding Sanctuary and the Irish Sea Project.
10. It was acknowledged that the socio-economic criteria also needed further consideration and it was proposed that a sub-group be established to take this element forward.
ACTION: All to send to comments regarding ecological guidance, including the need for additional criteria, to Kirsten Ramsay.
ACTION: All to consider and advise WAG/CCW of additional attendees for the workshop in April.
ACTION: CCW and WAG to organise the workshop in April.
ACTION: WAG to liaise with Mike Christie to consider establishing a ‘socio-economic’ sub group and report to Chair, linking in with CCW’s work on ecological criteria.
Site selection software
11. Jenn Lawson gave a presentation on available site selection software - Marxan and Marinemap - tools which can help inform site selection decisions.
12. Marxan is a tool that can freely be downloaded from the web and has the ability to analyse complex datasets. The benefits of Marxan is that it will select the option of least cost, whether that be ecological, social or economic; optimisation technique. Marxan however is a technical tool and is not particularly user friendly.
13. Marinemap is also a web based tool but only available at a cost. It’s more interactive than Marxan, much more user friendly and of benefit when engaging with stakeholders. Beth Stoker noted that Marinemap is being considered for the regional projects however because the web-based system had proved prohibitively expensive Defra were now considering a desk-based system. There may be an opportunity for Wales to link into this project at minimal cost, although we would need to consider whether this was appropriate given that our project approach was different.
ACTION: WAG to contact Defra for an update on the Marinemap project/spec.
Outcomes and timelines
14. Louise will update the outcomes and timeframes paper to take account of feedback from the Steering Group and will circulate to members with the minutes of the meeting. Essentially the outcomes and timeframes remain unchanged but the paper will be refined to take account of interactions between the Groups.
Agree Terms of Reference
15. Comments and suggestions have been received and it was agreed that the Chair and Secretariat would consider with a view to finalising the terms of reference before the next meeting.
ACTION: WAG to finalise terms of reference in liaison with Chair.
Date of next meeting
16. TAG to host a workshop to be held in April 2010.
Any other business
17. The Chair raised the need for TAG to consider appointing a deputy Chair and asked that this issued be considered further in readiness for the next meeting.