Dr. Ken Whelan:

I agree with all the comments made about MPAs but I also want to make a call for coastal zone management because the two have to be integrated. I echo Dr. Berrow's sentiments. Ten years ago, when I was working with the Marine Institute, we were talking about integrated coastal zone management in a very sophisticated sense. We have not actually achieved that. The integration of coastal zone management with the MPAs, with a clear focus on biodiversity, is really urgent at this stage because we have lost a full decade. I was recently involved with a very innovative study carried out in Wales, where there are designated marine areas for marine renewables. We have been looking at diadromous fish, which include eels, salmon, shad and so on, and seeing what can we do and how we can track the animals we are concerned about when putting a turbine into the marine area. Those reports will be out very shortly and I have referenced them in my submission. As Dr. Berrow said, we need to push the boat out here as regards research and development, but it must be integrated. For too long, our science has been in silos and we need to start integrating this in a very real sense. The ultimate goal here is marine resilience and we have to make sure MPAs have an integrated resilience to face into the issues we are facing as a result of climate change.