UK Marine Strategy
We are going to try and talk about the UK Marine Strategy, in the most straightforward way possible. This is our interpretation and we will put all sources at the end of the post for you.
Have you ever wondered whether any cares about litter? Of course there are many individuals and organisations who do, but is there a bigger picture?
Yes, there is. We do have a Marine Litter Strategy to address the problems in the waters around the UK. The strategy is the UK’s plan to support the EU Marine Strategy Framework Directive.
There has been a recent update to the strategy but unfortunately the news on marine litter still isn’t positive. Fortunately PFH Team Lead Amelia has researched this before for a Marine Litter training course, so she has revisited the report to see what’s happening.
The strategy was created in 2020 and required the UK to reach Good Environmental Status (GES) by 2020. There is a lot more to it than marine litter, but we will focus on that aspect here.
The perspective for 2018 – 2024 for Marine Litter remained the same, this is the Current Environmental Status in 2018 as shown in the current report:
In 10 years we have failed to fix the problem as it was believed that the timescale was too short to make the required changes.
There are no specific targets for marine litter as it is claimed that there is not enough data to be able to set them. However, there is a trend based target, which essentially needs to see litter levels reduced.
How does this affect us locally?
The South Marine Plan is the local document that supports the UK Marine Strategy. The relevant section of this is S-ML-1 which says this:
“Public authorities should ensure adequate provision for and removal of beach and marine litter on amenity beaches”
As far as we can determine, this happens on some beaches along the Dorset coast but not others.
How can I help?
You can help by supporting organisations and individuals who are helping to keep the coast clean and healthy.
If you regularly pick up litter, please log it with any of the many apps available. Our favourite is Open Litter Map.
Conclusion and Sources
It isn’t possible to put all the detail here, this post is really to make you aware that there is a bigger picture. That way, you can read for yourself what the plans are.
Read Amelia’s blog post here: Good Environmental Status? Fail.
Read Amelia’s final report on the local Marine Litter problem and how it ties in with local, national and international strategies.
Marine Strategy Part One: UK updated assessment and Good Environment Status, Consultation Document May 2019
1. Marine Strategy Part One: UK Initial Assessment and Good Environmental Status
2. Marine Strategy Part Two: UK Marine Monitoring Programmes
3. Marine Strategy Part Three: UK Programme of Measures
The Marine Strategy Regulations 2010
Proposed UK Targets for achieving GES and Cost-Benefit Analysis for the MSFD
South Marine Plans