News items
Hadrian's Wall lit up!
Hadrian's Wall will be illuminated along its length this Saturday, 13th March, in a fantastic spectacle which will end in the last beacons being lit at Bowness on Solway. There will be a festival of events at Carlisle. More information about the display illuminating a line across Britain from coast to coast can be found here
Smothering Sea Squirt reaches Scotland
A highly invasive marine species, the sea squirt Didemnum vexillum, has appeared in Scottish waters for the first time. The colonial ascidian has been spreading around the world in recent years, colonizing marine structures, ships’ hulls, and natural marine habitats. This marine alien brings with it potentially high economic impacts as it is highly invasive, spreading and reproducing rapidly, and can affect marinas, fisheries and aquaculture as it tends to smother any substrate on which it establishes.
Users of the Solway are urged to keep their eyes open for this alien species. More information is available on the Scottish Association for Marine Science web site.
UK Marine and Coastal Access Act 2009 - Defra wants your views and help!
Join IFCAS! Following the passage of the Marine and Coastal Access Act, 10 Inshore Fisheries and Conservation Authorities (IFCAs) are being established along England’s coast. Members with a wide variety of marine and costal knowledge are now being recruited in your area. The IFCAs will replace the existing Sea Fisheries Committees from April 2011. They will promote healthy seas, champion sustainable fisheries, and boost viable industry by managing inshore fisheries resources out to six nautical miles. Through the IFCAs, everyone who uses or impacts on the marine ecosystem will be given a say in how it’s managed. People from a wide range of interests with local knowledge – including commercial fishing, sea angling, conservation, recreational and tourism, ports, marine research, marine heritage, and other industrial interests in the sea – are needed to join the IFCAs. Members will need to give up one day per month and be able to give objective and honest advice to benefit the region. For more information and to apply visit www.ifcamembers.co.uk or phone 01256 383669. The deadline for applications is 14 April 2010. Statement of Public Participation for the UK Marine Policy Statement which outlines how you can be involved in the development of the UKM&CAA's Marine Policy Statement. Defra is aiming to issue the draft Marine Policy Statement for consultation in spring 2010. The Document states 'This is an ambitious and challenging timetable, and will only be achievable with the proactive input of all those who have an interest in our seas'. Click on the link above to view a pdf version of the document and learn how you can help with developing the Marine Policy Statement.
Have your say with Marine licensing enforcement. Marine and Coastal Access act 2009: public consultation on secondary legislation for marine licensing enforcement – monetary penalties and appeals against statutory notices Defra is inviting your views on proposals for the enforcement of the new marine licensing system in Part 4 of the Marine and Coastal Access Act 2009. The Act sets out a framework for a new marine licensing system to regulate marine development works and activities, and a key part of the system is the introduction of measures to enable more effective and proportionate enforcement of licensing offences committed under the Act. This consultation seeks views on two features of the enforcement of the new licensing system; a system of monetary penalties for licensing offences; and a mechanism for people to appeal against statutory notices. More information about the Consulation can be found on Defra’s website. www.defra.gov.uk/corporate/consult/marine-licensing/index.htm Responses should be received no later than 1st June 2010.
Dumfries and Galloway Environmental Resources Centre news
Dumfries and Galloway Environmental Resources Centre has re-launched a local wildlife watchers forum to enable people to share their news and views with others. The new forum is part of 'Yahoo! Groups', which some of you may be familiar with (the local Dumfries & Galloway Birding group uses the same system). Visit http://groups.yahoo.com/group/dgercforum/ and click to join the group. You can also sign up to the DGERC's free E-NEWSLETTER to find out about the latest local wildlife news, sightings, events and training courses at http://www.dgerc.org.uk/?q=news/enewsletter
Tidelines
The latest edition of Tidelines available is Issue 32, Winter/Spring 2010. Download this and its E-On insert, plus previous issues, from our downloads page. Tidelines is the newsletter of the Solway Firth Partnership and is available free by post, or we can email it directly to you. To receive Tidelines please contact us at info@solwayfirthpartnership.co.uk and let us know how you would like to receive Tidelines (by post or electronically).
Marine (Scotland) Bill becomes law
The Marine (Scotland) Bill was passed by the Scottish Parliament on 4th February 2010. More information about the Bill can be found on the Marine Bill website. The Scottish Government has published an information leaflet giving an overview of the Scottish Marine Bill, entitled Scotland's First Marine Bill. The publication provides a summary of marine planning, licensing and marine nature and historic conservation provisions, explaining the Bill’s purpose and its effects. You can download the document here.UK Marine and Coastal Access Bill becomes law.
The Marine and Coastal Access Act was warmly welcomed by all sides when it received Royal Assent and finally entered the statute books on 12 November 2009. The Act has now been published and is available from the Office of Public Sector Information www.opsi.gov.uk/acts/act16-11, as are the accompanying Explanatory Notes. Please see the Defra website for future information on implementation of the Marine and Coastal Access Act at www.defra.gov.uk/environment/marine/legislation/index.htm. The final Defra Marine and Coastal Access Bill newsletter (no 12) is available on our downloads page.
Spring Clean Scotland 2010
Keep Scotland Beautiful are running their highly succesful anti-litter campaign again in 2010 with National Spring Clean 1st - 30th April 2010 . You can support this event either by organising your own Spring Clean or by spreading the word to your colleagues, members or contacts. And if you support the campaign by posting a link to the KSB website from your own site, or include an article in your newsletter, or do a mail-out encouraging others to take part, KSB will include your logo and a weblink from the 'Supporters' section on our campaign website, which will be coming soon to www.keepscotlandtidy.org/springclean.Cumbria first to develop a coastal access trail
Natural England has heralded the Marine and Coastal Access Act as a landmark moment in the history of countryside access as well as a once in a lifetime opportunity to enhance and protect the marine environment. The act provides a mechanism for safeguarding threatened marine ecosystems and for managing the multiple uses of our seas as well as improving access to the coast. Natural England also announced that Cumbria will be one of six areas across the country where work on coastal access would be concentrated first, once the Secretary of State has approved the detailed approach. There will be close local consultation including ‘walking the course’ with existing occupiers. Cumbria County Council’s Countryside Access team, together with its statutory advisor the Cumbria Local Access Forum will work closely with Natural England and all those with an interest across Cumbria to develop and implement the project in the county. A joint working group has already been established to help guide the project.
Solway Energy Gateway.
A Feasibility Group has been established to investigate the possibility of a range of renewable tidal energy technologies, including a proposed barrage across the Solway between Annan and Bowness-on-Solway. The barrage would harness the tidal power of the Solway and transform it into renewable energy which could possibly be fed into the National Grid through the Chapelcross system. For more information about the project and the meeting see here, or visit the Solway Energy Gateway web site here
New Solway Haaf Netters Fish Conservation Trust established.
Solway Haaf Netters are grateful for a generous donation from Lord Ballyedmond and his son, who have donated the proceeds of a recent libel action to the Solway Haaf Netters, and which has enabled the group to establish a new Solway Haaf Netters Fish Conservation Trust to finance research into fish conservation, particularly salmon. Mark Graham, Secretary of the Solway Haaf Netters Association, said ‘Without their support this ancient tradition could become extinct.’ Additionally, some members of the Eden Owners Association have also indirectly provided funding support to the new Trust, which will be used to obtain rigorous independent data on salmon stocks. This will compliment data on work already carried out on juveniles by the Eden Rivers Trust. The Haaf Netters are concerned that restrictions to the Haaf Net fisheries have been introduced without adequate scientific data. These new research opportunities should allow the regulators to better manage the operation of all the fisheries within the Eden river system, and also allow a more balanced approach to the Haaf net fishery, which will both conserve the salmon stocks and ensure the long-term survival of this important part of Cumbrian heritage.
Waste Aware Scotland - reduce your home waste!
Beach litter is a huge problem on the Solway. We can all help do our bit in helping to reduce the amount of litter generated by reducing the amount of waste we produce at home. WRAP Scotland helps individuals, businesses and local authorities to reduce waste and recycle more, making better use of resources and helping to tackle climate change. Established as a not-for-profit company in 2000, WRAP is backed by government funding from England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.
For more information or leaflets please email advisor@wrap.org.uk
WRAP, in partnership with Waste Aware Scotland, is currently promoting a home composting project; reduce the amount of kitchen waste and other compostable items you send to landfill with your own, subsidised cost, compost bin, see here for more information on how to buy a compost bin for just £6, and great composting tips. And learn how you can reduce landfill, cut greenhouse gas emissions AND save money with the Love Food Hate Waste campaign here
Electrofishing
There have been concerns that electrofishing for razorshells has been taking place in the