OFFSHORE reefs at the Ecréhous, Les Anquettes and the Minquiers could receive wide-ranging protection from fishing if an amendment to the government’s Marine Spatial Plan wins support in the States on Tuesday.
The Environment, Housing, and Infrastructure Scrutiny Panel has warned that delaying protection could result in damage to sensitive habitats like maerl beds, formed by red algae, which provide shelter for marine species and help store carbon.
It has accused Environment Minister Steve Luce of not going far enough to stay in line with international obligations, and proposed two amendments.
The first calls on the minister to reinstate several Marine Protected Areas that were originally proposed by former Environment Minister Jonathan Renouf in the first iteration of the plans.
Environmental groups have argued in a series of submissions to the Scrutiny panel that these habitats are crucial for biodiversity and support species like the commercially valuable king scallop.
The panel also stressed that mobile fishing gear, including bottom crawling and dredging, poses a serious threat to these areas, and protection is needed to prevent permanent damage.
The second amendment calls for a “robust” monitoring framework to be established to ensure the Marine Spatial Plan is implemented effectively and transparently by current and future governments.
If approved, the amendment would also require the Environment Minister to provide a definitive timeline for research on areas still under consideration for protection under the Marine Protected Area Network.
Members of the panel also requested that the Environment Minister commit to decisions about including any additional areas into this zone before the end of the current term of office to provide clarity to local fishers.
The panel also said that the minister’s decision to reduce the level of protection against destructive fishing practises by 5% within a proposed framework for managing the Island’s waters was “not the right one” and a “political choice”.
The Marine Spatial Plan, set to be discussed at next week’s States sitting, aims to balance marine conservation with the interests of the fishing industry by setting out “what goes where” in Jersey’s waters.
But the panel has argued the current iteration of the plans have failed to strike the right balance in a report published yesterday.
It focused on the reduction of Marine Protected Areas – zones where towed fishing gear and destructive processes such as dredging are not permitted – from 27% to 23%.
It claims this decision, made by the minister after consultations with the fishing industry, risks damaging sensitive marine habitats.
The report added that the decision “goes against the aim of the Marine Spatial Plan which is to ensure sustainable use of marine resources and achieve an appropriate balance of use.”
Meanwhile, the chair of the panel Deputy Hilary Jeune argued: “Our view is that a political choice was made by the minister to find a short-term compromise that recognised the financial impact on certain sectors of the fishing community.”
The report went on to argue that the reduction has “disappointed” and, in some cases, “angered” those who wanted to see Jersey reach the target of protecting 30% of Island waters by 2030.
This refers to an international obligation Jersey signed up to in 2022 as part of a push to conserve 30% of the globe’s terrestrial and marine habitat and protect it from destructive practices by 2030.
Just last month, Deputy Luce admitted that the “30 by 30” target might not be reached in the next six years and told a group of scrutineers: “For me, 30 by 30 was not a prerequisite.”
The panel therefore raised concern about the minister’s stance on the pledge in their report and called on Deputy Luce to reaffirm commitment to protecting 30% of Jersey’s marine environment by 2030— an initiative they argue is central to the guiding force behind the Marine Spatial Plan.
The proposed changes will provide clear direction, bring accountability to the plan’s environmental goals and assist all parties in decision-making, according to the panel.
In its amendment, the group said: “The current lack of certainty means that some members of the Island’s fishing fleet – particularly those using mobile gear – do not know how to plan their future.”
