MARINE CONSERVATION

Subject: MARINE CONSERVATION Thu Oct 13, 2011 5:12 am

I recieved this e-mail from Fiona Gell and thought that i would bring it to your attention gents .

Dr Emma Rowan has asked me to pass on the following update on the Isle of Man Marine Plan. Please contact Emma for further details:

Dear all,

I am writing with the first update on the Isle of Man Marine Plan, a cross Departmental project funded by the Department of Infrastructure, Department of Economic Development and the Department of Environment, Food and Agriculture.

The Isle of Man Marine Plan process aims to develop a stringent consenting regime which will give consent for all types of development within the marine environment. It is also expected that this project will develop a Marine Plan for the Territorial Seas out to 12 nautical miles which will take into consideration current and future uses of the marine environment and other relevant information. This will enable the identification of opportunity areas for suitable developments within the marine environment.

Key messages of this process are to:

· Maximise potential economic development opportunities through a sustainable approach to our marine environment;

· Ensure inclusiveness and accountability for the Isle of Man Marine Plan process;

· Enable joined up and consistent Government to take place; and,

· Maintain the pivotal role of the Isle of Man within the Irish Sea.

Identification of stakeholders is an ongoing process and contacts will be regularly updated. It is necessary to consult at the local and regional levels, and should include other Jurisdictions, relevant Agencies, research institutions and Universities, all users of the seas, potential developers and local stakeholders including all Tynwald Members. All will be involved right throughout the process. Well established linkswithin the Irish Sea Region will continue to be developed.

The first public exhibition of the project was at The Energy Expo in May and a workshop with a presentation was held on Saturday 7^th May. It was very well attended, and provided a great introduction to the project for many of our marine stakeholders as well as people interested to know what we are doing for our territorial waters.

Work has been continuing on developing the legislation which will give us clearer direction on how to assess any applications we receive for marine developments within Manx waters. We are working with the Attorney General on this, and it is hoped we will have the advice we require shortly.

We have also started work on a Manx Marine Environmental Assessment for the territorial waters. Through the Isle of Man Marine Plan, we are able to employ a project officer, Laura Hanley from 15^th September 2011, for a six month period, to compile and edit the information supplied into one document and to produce maps to illustrate the main datasets. Laura has previously worked for DEFA as a Marine Biodiversity Officer working in the Fisheries Directorate. She has extensive marine experience and is also an experienced user of ArcView GIS for producing digital maps of the marine environment. She will be working alongside the Marine Spatial Planning Officer Group as part of this cross-Department Government project. We have made contact with key marine stakeholders who might be able to contribute towards various chapters to be included within the final document and we are continuing to identify additional contributors. If you have information about the Manx marine environment and its uses that you think could be included we would encourage you to get in touch.

We are in the process of trying to develop a website to provide updates when possible on the project as well as downloadable information when it becomes available. We will keep you up to date with its progress in the next email update.

Thank you all for your support with this project, and hopefully we will see you again soon the next time we have a public meeting.

Best wishes,

Emma

Emma Rowan MA MSc PhD | Marine Spatial Planning Project Officer | E-mail: emma.rowan@gov.im

Planning & Building Control Division | Department of Infrastructure | Murray House | Mount Havelock | Douglas | Isle of Man | IM1 2SF | Tel: 01624 686301

This is a cross Government project funded by the Department of Infrastructure, Department of Economic Development and the Department of Environment, Food & Agriculture.

Please consider the environment and only print this email if you really need it

Admin316.

MARINE CONSERVATION

MARINE CONSERVATION

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