Projects being planned or implemented in the marine sector often require fisheries liaison to manage the flow of information between the fishing industry and developers, and indeed regulators.

MEP has gained considerable experience managing the fisheries liaison offices for major developments in the UK and brings a wealth of experience in diffusing difficult situations and in managing the interaction between, for example, a demersal fishing fleet affected by capital dredging works.

Example case studies:-

• London Gateway Port

With multiple groups of resource users making demands on the marine and coastal environment, the benefits of practising integrated coastal zone management (ICZM) is becoming well known.

ICZM essentially involves the consideration of all activities conducted within an area of land and sea, and establishing a system of zoning - or spatial planning - to permit more effective management of the impacts of those activities. Where there are areas of biological sensitivity, such as coral reefs or fish nursery habitat, Marine Protected Areas (MPA) can be established to protect the diversity within from extractive activities. MPAs can be part of an ICZM plan or can be established independently. Each MPA set up is different and requires a unique set of management criteria and levels of protection.

For more information on ICZM and MPAs, please look in the Sustainable Fisheries Management section.

It is inevitable that the construction and running of offshore developments such as wind farms will encroach on historic fishing areas and cause conflict between the industries.

Marine planning has in recent years come under pressure from the fishing industry to compensate or offset any loss of income or livelihoods with some of these developments.

With the global expansion in Telecommunications and oil exploration the need to lay new fibre-optic cables and seabed pipelines or umbilicals across large areas of seabed has increased dramatically. The laying of such cables or pipe can bring a large number of challenges, one of which can be the cable's interaction with commercial vessels and fishing fleets, potentially resulting in cable damage and large-scale communication problems on an international level or costly and environmentally threatening oil spills. These dangers have lead to tensions between the industries and a history of communication problems.

As a result, many telecommunication and oil companies now insist on the completion of a Cable Risk Assessment prior to the commencement of any new cable laying or maintenance operation.

MEP has a wealth of experience in relation to the completion of such Cable Risk Assessments and is able to offer a comprehensive spatial-temporal risk assessment, including an in-depth review of local/regional fisheries and their gears in relation to the proposed cable route.

Example case studies:-

• Cable Study - Gulf of Lions
• South Norway Cable Study