Cynulliad Cenedlaethol Cymru | National Assembly for Wales

Y Pwyllgor Newid Hinsawdd, Amgylchedd a Materion Gwledig | Climate Change, Environment and Rural Affairs Committee

Gwaith dilynol ar reoli Ardaloedd Morol Gwarchodedig yng Nghymru | Follow up work on Marine Protected Area management in Wales

MPA 09

Ymateb gan : Porthladd Aberdaugleddau

Evidence from : Port of Milford Haven

The Port of Milford Haven (PoMH) has been invited by the CCERA committee to provide evidence to inform its follow-up work on MPA management, and to support that evidence with a written submission.  It is in response to this invitation, which we gratefully accept, that I write.

The Committee will be aware of the MPA Management Framework document published by the Welsh Government, which sets out the responsibilities of all management authorities in Wales to the management of MPA’s.  The Committee will doubtless also be aware that the Cabinet Secretary for Environment, Planning and Rural Affairs wrote to the management authorities identified in that document to remind them of their responsibilities. PoMH did not reply to the Cabinet Secretary’s letter but continued to engage with the publication of the Framework and its accompanying Action Plan through direct involvement in the MPA Management Steering Group, with other stakeholders.

PoMH does, of course, recognise its responsibilities, and can demonstrate clearly how it fulfils them, and has continued to fulfil them for many years.  As an organisation with closely defined Port Limits set out in our establishing Acts of Parliament, our jurisdiction is very local, and accordingly we meet our responsibilities with local delivery.  The principal actions PoMH undertakes to manage the Pembrokeshire Marine Special Area of Conservation (SAC) (within which it is located) are:

· Ongoing financial and in-kind contributions to the Pembrokeshire Marine SAC (which is much larger than Port Limits) through participation in the Pembrokeshire Marine SAC Relevant Authorities Group (PMSAC-RAG), a collaboration between several relevant management authorities;

· Provision of hosting, office space and financial services for the Pembrokeshire Marine SAC Officer, Sue Burton, who reports to the PMSAC-RAG;

· Ongoing financial and in-kind contributions (including deputy chairship) to the Milford Haven Waterway Environmental Surveillance Group (MHWESG), a science and knowledge collaboration between local statutory management authorities and industrial stakeholders to improve local marine science and evidence;

· Maintaining a high level of engagement with other management authorities and the wider environmental sector, through participation in several Welsh Government and stakeholder groups, and individually;

· Co-ordinating all Milford Haven Waterway dredging through the Port Dredging Working Group to minimize environmental impact and ensure consistent application of mitigation measures;

· Embedding sustainability and good SAC management in all of PoMH’s work;

· Operating a Marine Works Licencing scheme as a Competent Authority under the terms of the Conservation of Habitats and Species Regulations 2017, which means PoMH is an environmental regulator within our Port Limits with a function complementary to (though not identical with) that of Natural Resources Wales (NRW).

All of this work carries a financial cost (estimated >£50,000 per annum), which, as a commercial entity, PoMH needs to demonstrate as good value for money.  Accordingly, our delivery is focused on ongoing activity rather than individual projects, as we feel the level of continuity this delivers is cost-effective as well as environmentally effective, and on collaboration, which is one of our core values as an organisation, and is the most effective delivery model.

PoMH is proud of its contribution to MPA management in Wales, but as a local management authority, our contributions are necessarily on the local scale.  We look to the national-scale management authorities (Welsh Government, NRW) to deliver on MPA management on a wider scale and to collaborate effectively with other local management authorities to deliver additionally on the local scale.

Jonathan Monk

Environmental Manager