Marine Natura in UK offshore SAC consultation Charlotte Johnston, Mark Tasker, Paolo Pizzolla JNCC North Sea RAC Demersal Working Group, 25 th Nov /11/2008

Who are JNCC? The Joint Nature Conservation Committee is the body that brings together the UK statutory nature conservation agencies: Scottish Natural Heritage Natural England Countryside Council for Wales Council for Nature Conservation and the Countryside JNCC advises on nature conservation for UK offshore waters (beyond 12 nautical miles from the coast)

Natura 2000 The Natura Directives aim to stop biodiversity loss within the European Union by protecting natural habitats and species. Two Directives: ‘Habitats’ and ‘Birds’ Special Areas of Conservation (SACs) for habitats and non-bird species Special Protection Areas (SPAs) for birds

Offshore SACs Habitats requiring protection under the Habitats Directive in waters away from the coast: Reefs Sandbanks which are slightly covered by seawater all the time Submarine structures made by leaking gases Species requiring protection under the Habitats Directive for which SACs may be identified in future include grey seal, common seal, bottlenose dolphin and harbour porpoise

Responsibilities for site identification Each country identifies SACs and SPAs in their territorial waters. JNCC identifies SACs and SPAs for UK offshore waters, and coordinate SAC/SPA selection for the UK. Areas of responsibility

Outcome of Consultation Previous consultation on 7 offshore possible SACs: 5 sites were submitted to Europe and are now candidate SACs: –Darwin Mounds –Stanton Banks –Haig Fras –Braemar pockmarks –Scanner pockmark 2 sites remain possible SACs pending further work: –North Norfolk Sandbanks and Saturn reef –Wyville Thomson Ridge

UK offshore site consultations Two draft offshore SACs for public consultation starting in December 2008

Offshore Marine Conservation Regulations UK offshore Regulations came into force August Site protection provisions are: –JNCC advise government of sites (SACs and SPAs) to be submitted to Europe –12 week consultation on scientific justification for sites, then site list submitted to European Commission by 1 st Sept each year –JNCC provide Conservation Objectives and Advice on Operations to Competent Authorities –Competent Authorities must manage activities so they don’t affect the sites –Plans and projects which may affect the integrity of a site require Appropriate Assessment –Ongoing activities may require management measures if they affect the features of the site

Oct-DecPre-consultation meetings with competent 2008authorities and key stakeholder groups Dec 08 -Formal consultation period (pending Mar 09 Government approval) April 09 -Analysis of consultation submissions and June 09 report to UK Government Aug 09Sites submitted to European Commission consultation timetable

Offshore site consultations Documents for each possible site will be available in December 2008: scientific justification for identifying the site draft impact assessment Consultation period: 12 weeks JNCC then compile submissions and provide a summary report JNCC use the comments/results on the scientific justification for the site from consultation to modify site proposals if appropriate, and report to Government UK Government will then decide whether to submit the sites to the European Commission.

Consultation: Dogger Bank dSAC Draft Sandbanks slightly covered by seawater all the time; Harbour porpoise Since 2005, the draft boundary has been modified to take account of new survey; Harbour porpoise has been re-graded at C-grade due to new data now available

Dogger Bank: slope analysis

Dogger Bank: infaunal communities

UK Dogger Bank: Adjacent European sites

IAs - Impact Assessments Government guidelines require an Impact Assessment for all policy changes (previously a Regulatory Impact Assessment or RIA) Impact Assessments examine the likely economic impacts of a policy change and the range of options for implementing it

IAs - Impact Assessments JNCC will be preparing impact assessments for each site using contractors Based on likely maximum and minimum management scenarios following JNCC’s draft Conservation Objectives and Advice on Operations for each site Site-based Impact Assessments will be consulted on at the same time as the scientific justification for selection of the site. Impact assessments will be updated following the consultation incorporating information from all responding stakeholders

Information needed from stakeholders Information on what activities undertaken, their current and potential worth Information on likely additional costs incurred by industry if the site is designated Initial information to JNCC’s contractors during Nov-Dec 08 for inclusion in the Impact Assessment for consultation Comment and further input through 12 week formal site consultation (Dec 08 to March 09)

Knowledge of current activities Oil & gas installations

Knowledge of current activities Aggregate extraction licence areas

Knowledge of current activities Cables & pipelines

Knowledge of current activities Potential windfarm licence areas

Knowledge of current activities Demersal fisheries (2004)

Protection of UK offshore SACs Protection of habitats in UK offshore SACs is the responsibility of Competent Authorities Examples of Competent Authorities for UK offshore SACs are: Oil and Gas, windfarms and other energy developments: Department of Energy & Climate Change (DECC, formerly BERR); Marine aggregate (sand and gravel) extraction: Marine and Fisheries Agency Fishing: European Union CFP Competent authorities must consider future consents, and review existing consents

Future plans for UK SACs and SPAs JNCC’s offshore survey and data collation programme provides data for identification of additional draft offshore SACs JNCC are conducting surveys and research towards identification of draft offshore SPAs. Additional inshore SACs and SPAs away from the coast are also being identified by the Country Agencies with JNCC. The EC deadline for completion of the Natura 2000 network is 2010.

UK SAC network Further areas of search to be assessed for selection as SACs for habitats

Summary Two UK possible offshore SACs (Dogger Bank & NW Rockall Bank) will be consulted upon December 2008 – March 2009 Consultation on the scientific justification for proposing the sites as SACs, plus likely socio- economic impact of site designation Information on socio-economic impact of designation requested now and during the public consultation More marine SACs (both inshore and offshore) to be consulted upon in 2009 and 2010 JNCC are undertaking survey to complete the offshore Natura 2000 network We aim to make the process as open and inclusive as possible…

Further information All the information for the consultation will be available on the JNCC website: The UK Offshore Marine Conservation Regulations: To contact us about: SACs, SPAs, The consultation process - including registering your interest in taking part -