press statment for HPMAs

The Government set up an independent review panel under teh chairmanship of Richard Benyon to examine teh need for HPMAs and to make recommendations. SUDG chair, Peter Barham, was on the panel along with Benj Sykes, co-chair of the Offshore Wind Industry Council. SUDG and OWIC have responded positively to the report and the recommendations which show that conservation and industry can work together as long as there is clear science, clear management and clear enforcement of HPMAs.

Please see the updated socio-economic report on marine industries. This report updates on the work done in 2008 and shows the importance of marine industries in providing new jobs and in tackling the challenges of climate change through development. 

ABPmer soc-econ SUDG

SUDG and key wildlife organisations including The Wildlife Trusts, RSPB, WWF and the Marine Conservation Society have prepared a joint statement which sets out clear objectives for the UK Government to manage the marine environment which would benefit conservation and the marine economy. Please read the statement and if you have any comments contact us on info@sudg.org.uk

Joint Statement June 2018

At the workshop discussed in the note above, we also had a very useful presentation from CEFAS about the role they play in assisting the MMO with licensing. This is a very informative presentation and should help anyone involved in licensing to know when and how CEFAS will be involved.

SUDG2018 – Introduction to Cefas Andrew Griffith V2

The SUDG and MMO held their 3rd workshop earlier this year and there was a lot of very useful discussion how industry and the MMO can work together better. To read more about this please look at the attached note prepared by the MMO

2018 SUDG MMO licensing interchange note Final

Please have a look at the paper which we have prepared setting out our views on the potential opportunities that Brexit creates for marine management.

Brexit opportunities Oct 2017

SUDG and Natural England held a joint workshop to inform industry stakeholders on the progress of the NE MCA Project to date and demonstrate the interactive Conservation Advice packages hosted on the Designated Sites System (DSS) of NE. Further developments include options for a potential screening tool that will link together NE’s advice under the Conservation Objectives and their Advice on Operations with a view to making it easier for developers and others to quickly screen-out interactions or pressure pathways that can be demonstrated as not being damaging to the site or feature(s), based on the conservation advice available.

Please have a look at the presentations given on the day which are attached to this news item and which set out the work and progress made by NE.

Natural England also presented information about a project whose aim is to better understand what favourable conservation status looks like for individual habitats and species in England – that is, to describe what NE aim to achieve at the England scale. Importantly this will make it much clearer to partners on the outcomes that NE are looking for overall.  It is currently in pilot stage, but NE are developing and testing a methodology for better defining the England contribution to Favourable Conservation Status across both sea and land. 

If you have any views on the workshop and its outputs please contact either Peter Barham SUDG- peterjbarham@googlemail.com or Awantha Dissanayake NE on Awantha.Dissanayake@naturalengland.org.uk

Please click on the links below, you will need Powerpoint and Adobe Reader to open the documents. If you are having difficulty viewing these documents please contact us.

• Title slide and infographic  Powerpoint
• Marine Conservation Advice Powerpoint
• Screening Tool Powerpoint
• FCS Powerpoint
• SUDG Stakeholder Workshop Notes PDF

SUDG and the Marine Management Organisation held a workshop in March to look at what we do and how we can work together better. Please have a look at the zip file which contains Powerpoint presentations about key marine industries and also the results of the discussions which took place during the workshop. SUDG and MMO both agree that to ensure we continue to see Blue Growth and protect and improve the environment, it is essential that we look for better ways of working together, Discussing this in a collaborative and open manner in a workshop environment is an excellent way of examining opportunities and risks.

Please click on the links below, you will need Powerpoint and Adobe Reader to open the documents. If you are having difficulty viewing these documents please contact us.

• Aggregates Powerpoint
• British Marine PDF
• MMO Licensing Improvement Programme Powerpoint
• MMO Marine Planning Update PDF
• MMO SUDG Industry Workshop Overview Word Doc
• Renewable Energy Powerpoint
• Subsea Cables Powerpoint
• Thames Tideway Project Powerpoint
• The Crown Estate PDF

Please have a look at the SUDG paper with our early views on Brexit and environmental legislation.SUDG and Brexit Final version April 2017

SUDG action plan future-sudg-work-september-2016