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Environmental protection

Homepage > Environmental protection > Water > Marine > UK issues > UK marine policy

Marine: Cleaner Seas report

Organising to protect the seas

Europe

The UK Government believes that action on marine environment problems can usually be taken most effectively at national and regional level. European co-operation is through;
  • the Oslo and Paris (OSPAR) Convention for the protection of the Marine Environment of the North East Atlantic which monitors and regulates waste disposal at sea and discharges from the land; and
  • the Bonn Convention on oil pollution prevention and response.
The European Community has an increasingly important role on discharges of dangerous substances, municipal waste water, management of fisheries and the quality of bathing waters. Such action taken by the Community to achieve a high level of environmental protection can have a beneficial effect on the marine environ-ment. Community water legislation has recently been reviewed and, as a result, the Community is considering a proposal for a wide-ranging Framework Directive in the field of water policy. The Water Framework Directive will require action to be taken to achieve quality objectives in estuaries and coastal waters (up to one nautical mile from the shore) as well as rivers, lakes and groundwaters. This will, in turn, contribute to the protection of marine waters.

The Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) Directive (EC Directive 85/337/EEC) came into effect in July 1988. It requires that, for certain types of project, a developer must provide information to the relevant competent authority (i.e. the body from which consent must be obtained before the project can proceed) about any likely significant environmental effects. This Directive, now superseded by Directive 97/11/EC which must be implemented by 14 March 1999, is relevant to industrial projects which are likely to affect the marine environment. Emissions to air, water and land from the potentially most polluting industrial processes will also be controlled under the Integrated Pollution Prevention and Control (IPPC) Directive (Directive 96/61/EC). IPPC must be implemented by October 1999.

The North Sea Conference is the main forum in which environment ministers from the North Sea states meet to discuss marine issues such as pollution and the protection of species and habitats. The nine North Sea states are Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland and the UK.

At a meeting of environment and fisheries ministers held in Bergen in March 1997, agreement was reached on the principles, objectives and strategies which should guide fisheries and environmental management in the North Sea. The conclusions called for an ecosystem approach to fisheries management and environmental conservation and protection. It also recognised that the principles of sustainable management should apply to industrial fisheries as well as to human consumption fisheries.

The International Council for the Exploration of the Sea (ICES) brings together fisheries scientists to discuss management of fish stocks and the marine environment and advises inter-governmental fisheries and environmental bodies.

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Page last modified: 01 March 2005
Page published: 21 September 1988

Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs