13 January 2016
The MPA Coalition which was formed to protect fishermen’s livelihoods to during the process of establishing a network of marine protected areas, is to say farewell to its Chairman, Dr Stephen Lockwood. MPAC’s work has moved on to a new phase in which a site-specific focus and detailed work on management measures within MPAs has moved to the forefront.
In MPAC’s letter of thanks to Dr
Lockwood it says:
“I am sure that the others in the MPAC coalition
would want to use this occasion to convey our very profound gratitude to you
for your work with us on finding a rational way forward on the implementation
of a network of MPAs in UK waters. In England and Wales it is hard to fully recollect
fully the scale of the danger that was posed when the nature conservation
agencies were in an empire building phase, and the government was in thrall to
the a superficial view that MPAs were the means to regenerate fish stocks and the marine environment generally.
There was a very real danger at one stage of very large scale displacement of
fishing activity on a ridiculously short timescale on the basis of close to
zero evidence.
The gravitas, as well as insight and expertise,
which you brought to MPAC were an important part of the rebalancing exercise
that was at the core of our approach. From the outset, MPAC made plain that it
was not opposed to the role that MPAs could play in protecting vulnerable
marine features and habitats. We were however, vigorously opposed to a
superficial and slightly hysterical headlong rush towards establishing MPAs as
a tick-box exercise, displacing fishermen from their customary grounds in the
meantime. You helped us immensely in ensuring that this measured and proportionate
approach was understood.
The result of MPAC’s work was that, ultimately,
government was obliged to use an evidence-based approach to identify
exactly what it was that it was protecting; and to engage in close dialogue
those potentially affected by the establishment of MPAs. The irony is that the
approach that initially we envied in Scotland seems to have dissipated, as the
government there seems to have unlearned these important lessons.
In getting government to take seriously the issue
of displacement, with its potentially devastating consequences for both the
fishermen of this country and the marine environment, we both owe you a debt of
gratitude. “
Dr Stephen Lockwood, MPAC Chairman