INTRODUCTION OF A MARINE BILL

That this House welcomes the ongoing campaign by a coalition of environmental organisations, including the Marine Conservation Society, the RSPB, the Whale and Dolphin Conservation Society, The Wildlife Trusts and WWF, for a comprehensive Marine Bill; regrets the absence of such a Bill from the 2006 Queen's Speech, given that a draft Bill was promised in the 2005 legislative programme; looks forward to the publication of the promised White Paper; nonetheless welcomes the steps taken towards a Bill since the previous Queen's Speech in the consultation document A Marine Bill, published in March; notes that the great majority of the 1,200 responses to that consultation favoured legislation; believes that the United Kingdom urgently needs a new approach to managing and protecting its marine resources, including its biological and archaeological heritage; therefore believes that this Marine Bill must be based on a system of spatial planning which allows different activities in the marine environment to be developed in a coherent and rational way and seeks to reduce conflict between the many users of these seas; believes that the Bill must include reform of inshore fisheries; further believes that, given the extraordinary richness of wildlife in UK seas, the Bill must put protection of wildlife at the heart of marine policy through measures including the designation of a network of marine protected areas; and calls on the Government to include a comprehensive Marine Bill in the 2007 Queen's Speech.