The edge Spring 2008 54 The edge Spring 2008

News News

News in brief

q Maine wants lobster fisheries

certified sustainable

According to the Associated Press,

the US Maine lobster industry is

seeking to have its lobster certified

as sustainable by the London-

based Marine Stewardship Council.

Local communities to share stories of

the East Anglian coast

Pamela Pearson,

also known as

‘the Wallasea

Mermaid’, will be

the first person to

share her story as

part of Holding 

Back the Tide – a

new Heritage

Lottery funded

project delivered

by CoastNet.

Pamela grew up on the banks of the

Crouch Estuary in Essex where her

parents ran the Wallasea Yacht Club.

Pictured here, at the age of 20, in her

homemade mermaid’s tail you can

understand why she went on to be a

professional synchronised swimmer –

having nursed her passion for being

on and in the waters of the Crouch

from a young age.

Imcore to begin where

Corepoint ends

Imcore, Innovative Management for

Coastal Resources, is an Interreg

IVB project and successor to the

Corepoint project. Provisionally

approved by the North West Europe

Programme, Imcore will enable

many of the Corepoint partners to

continue to work together and apply

lessons learned and techniques

developed to the issue of climate

change in coastal areas. It is hoped

that the project will start in April.

CoastNet working in Wales

CoastNet has won a contract to

support CCW (Countryside Council

for Wales) in taking forward the

‘Making the most of the coast’

initiative in North West Wales. Its

focus will be the Menai Straight and

Conwy Bay Natura 2000 nature

conservation site, but taking into

account the wider priorities and

pressures in that area of NW Wales.

CoastNet will be working with local

and regional stakeholders to identify

the best approach to the creation of

a sustainable coastal management

framework and action plan.

For more information contact

Suzanne Gattrell,

Project Coordinator:

suzanne.gattrell@coastnet.org.uk

The project will involve collecting

stories, pictures and artefacts from

East Anglian communities to tell

stories of coastal change in the

region over the past 50 years or

more and culminate in a travelling

exhibition that celebrates this

coast and changes faced as told by

its inhabitants.

“The telling and sharing of stories

can generate great pride in both

individuals and communities, as well

as reinforcing the value of the coast

itself”, says CoastNet’s newest team

member, Suzanne Gattrell, who is

coordinating the project.

News in brief

q Caribbean countries plan early

tsunami warning system by 2010

Caribbean nations will set up a joint

tsunami early warning centre by

2010, governments agreed at a

meeting in Panama in March.

Supporters want the centre to relay

information from national geological

institutes across the region, that

could help prevent deaths and

infrastructure damage in the event

of a tsunami.

q Mediterranean tuna fleet in race for

the last bluefin

The most comprehensive analysis yet

of the Mediterranean bluefin tuna fleet

shows it conservatively having twice

the fishing capacity of current quotas

and more than three and a half times

the catch levels recommended by

scientists to avoid stock collapse

according to a new report by WWF,

Race for the last bluefin.

The fleet is so bloated that just

covering its costs implies that a third

of its fishing would be illegal, with the

worst over-capacity culprits being

Turkey, Italy, Croatia, Libya, France

and Spain says the report.

WWF is calling on concerned

countries to dramatically reduce

capacity in this fishery as a matter of

urgency ahead of the 2008 fishing

season that starts end-April.

q Uncovering the mysteries of

oceanic bacteria

A team of MIT researchers is trying to

understand how microbes living in the

oceans play a critical role in regulating

Earth’s environment. The researchers

have devised a new method to analyse

gene expression in complex microbial

populations and say the work could

help better understand how oceans

respond to climate change.

q IMO to discuss shipping carbon

emissions cuts

The International Maritime

Organisation (IMO) is to discuss

binding measures to reduce carbon

dioxide emissions from international

shipping. In April the body’s marine

environment protection committee will

explore a range of options for tackling

the issue.

q Wind and wave developments

A new study commissioned by the

Scottish government has found that

wind turbines will not put tourists off

visiting Scotland. According to

researchers at Glasgow’s Caledonian

University carrying out the survey,

three-quarters of visitors surveyed

said wind farms had a positive or

neutral effect on the landscape, and

97% said wind farms would have no

impact on their decision to visit

Scotland again.

This is good news for the plethora of

wind and wave development

programmes in the pipeline or

underway such as that by British Gas

owner, Centrica, who is now set to

push ahead with one of the UK's most

ambitious offshore wind generation

building programmes off the

Lincolnshire coast after it secured a

long-term contract on the MV

Resolution, the world's largest

turbine-installing barge.

Spanish company Iberdrola has also

begun testing its wave energy pilot in

Santoña, Cantabria, which will

become the first of this kind to

be installed in Europe. And UK tidal

energy firm, Marine Current Turbines

has announced its plans to install the

world's first commercial scale, grid-

connected tidal energy generator at

Strangford Lough in Northern Ireland

late in April. The project is expected

to generate enough electricity for

1,000 homes.

In North America, proposals for a

deep water farm offthe coast of

Martha's Vineyard has been met with

enthusiasm while the Pacific Gas &

Electric Corporation were given a

permit to study and possibly develop

wave energy off the coast of

Northern California.

q Greatest glacier ice loss recorded

Latest official figures from the

World Glacier Monitoring Service

show that the world’s glaciers are

shrinking at record rates and many

could disappear within decades,

the UN Environment Programme

reports. Data from close to 30

reference glaciers in nine mountain

ranges indicate that between the

years 2004-2005 and 2005-2006 the

average rate of melting and

thinning more than doubled.

q North Pacific right whale receives

new legal protection

The US federal government in

March declared the North Pacific

right whale ‘endangered’ under the

federal Endangered Species Act,

following petitions and litigation

from the Center for Biological

Diveristy. The whale, once ranging

from California to Alaska and across

the North Pacific to Russia and

Japan, is now the most endangered

large whale in the world.

TV Coast’s, Mark Horton,

speaks at APPG

The Coastal and

Marine All Party

Parliamentary

Group held its AGM

in February with Dr

Mark Horton from the popular

Coast series delivering a

passionate address on the major

challenges facing the UK’s coast.

His enthusiasm for the coast, and

concern for the threatened

coastal heritage and archaeology

stimulated contributions from the

audience and a lengthy debate.

See www.coastnet.org.uk for

the conference outputs.

Solutions focus proves

a success for SEA

conference

CoastNet’s first conference of

2008, on Strategic Environmental

Assessment, proved yet again the

popularity of CoastNet-style

conferences with a strong

emphasis on practical problems

and solutions to implementation

of SEA in coastal and marine

situations. The approach was

complemented by some thought-

provoking contributions on the

role of SEA in environmental

 justice, and on SEA as a learning

tool for sustainable development.

Beverley Walker, of Royal

Haskoning Scotland, who made a

keynote presentation commented,

“It’s the best conference I have

been to for yea rs”.