Marine plan’s £25K ‘will be spent quickly’

The Policy and Finance Committee approved a £25,000 spend on a marine plan designed to ‘enhance the management and protection of Alderney’s marine and coastal environment’. Its aim is described as providing a ‘vehicle to demonstrate to the outside world that the island’s waters can be well managed’ ahead of an application to extend the limits of Alderney’s territorial waters from three to 12 miles.

The States has spent £25,000 on work including consulting local stakeholders on their priorities for the local waters. This month’s Billet asked the States to designate Alderney’s waters as a ‘locally managed marine area’ and provide an overall budget of £25,000 ‘for marine initiatives’.

Attendees at the May People’s meeting queried where the actual plan was, who would be managing it and how and what that would cost. Mrs Paris admitted it was likely that much more money would eventually be put into the project, arguing that a plan to look after the seas was comparable to having a Land Use Plan.

‘It will turn out to cost more as the years go by, it’s bound to,’ she said. ‘It would be fair to say a number of us in P&F thought more money should be put aside to push this. But it was felt by the majority that we should be cautious. We will see if that was a good idea or not as the future comes upon us.’

Quizzed on what specifically the money would be spent on, she replied: ‘At this point in time I can’t tell you what the money will be spent on. I’m sure it will go quite quickly. Many of us thought £50,000 would go quite quickly.’

She agreed there was not much detail to say what the plan would entail and how it would be achieved and managed.

‘I agree it’s quite high level,’ she said. ‘But we need to start somewhere because of Brexit and extending our territorial sea limits. It’s important that we are seen to be doing something to help our case with the British government.’

She admitted that having a marine management plan in place was not a condition to achieving extended limits and that Guernsey, which is similarly seeking a limit extension, is not currently working on one. Nor does anything in the marine management plan as outlined in the Billet suggest the money allocated to it will be spent on specialist work to legally establish exactly where Alderney’s boundaries will be drawn.

Mrs Paris countered: ‘Guernsey hasn’t thought about bringing the proposals forward. But it’s no reason for us not to consider something if we think it important.’

Mel Burland asked whether the four commercial fishermen were in favour of it. On the whole they were ‘quite enthusiastic’, Mrs Paris said. ‘The ones I’ve talked to say they have not been consulted and are not enthusiastic,’ replied Ms Burland. ‘They say “there’s nothing out there, what are you trying to manage?”.’