Marine Conservation Zones Debate
Full Debate: Read Full DebateDepartment: Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
Adrian Sanders
Main Page: Adrian Sanders (Liberal Democrat - Torbay)Department Debates - View all Adrian Sanders's debates with the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
Marine Conservation Zones
Adrian Sanders Excerpts(11 years, 7 months ago)
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Mr Adrian Sanders (Torbay) (LD)
I congratulate the hon. Member for Folkestone and Hythe (Damian Collins) on securing the debate and on the careful way that he presented the case for his constituency.
I want to make three brief points. First, fishermen are not the only stakeholders in this. Although I agree with my hon. Friend the Member for St Ives (Andrew George) that fishermen should be more involved in the process, their views are not the only ones that the Government have to take into consideration.
Secondly, marine conservation zones work, and that is proved by the marine protection areas that have been extremely successful on the west coast of north America. There is also some evidence of the success of marine conservation zones around Arran and the Isle of Man in Europe.
Mr Bradshaw
Is the hon. Gentleman also aware of research commissioned by the recreational anglers? It shows that fishing interests are not always allied. Sometimes the commercial fishing sector can be in conflict with the recreational sector, and the recreational sector, in many parts of the country, brings more income in to those local communities.
Mr Sanders
The right hon. Gentleman is correct. There are also divers and other people using the seas who contribute financially to the economies of the local areas concerned.
My third and final point—I hope that the Minister will refer to this—is the fact that we have to judge marine conservation zones as a whole, not individually. The network is crucial to their success. By altering one, we perhaps diminish the potential success of the concept as a whole.