Tom Appleby of UWE working with Dr. Jean-Luc Solandt of the Marine Conservation Society (MCS), a visiting research fellow at UWE, and Dr. Miles Hoskin, a consultant marine biologist, have published the first academic output from the International Water Security Network. The paper Up Frenchman’s Creek, published in the journal Environmental Law and Management, investigates one of the first systematic applications of the Habitats Directive to marine and inshore fisheries in the UK in the Fal and Helford estuaries in Cornwall. The Fal and Helford case was used as a precedent by the MCS and the environmental law firm Client Earth in pressing for a more widespread application of the Directive and was the forerunner to the recently announced series of byelaws (BBC, 2 Feb 2014) which are currently being put in place to manage all of England’s marine Special Areas of Conservation (SACs) from the damaging effects of some fishing activities. The paper charts the initial reluctance of some fisheries bodies to engage fully with the Directive, the unequivocal nature of the Directive in how these sites should be managed, and the final application of the law. SACs with a marine element protected by the Directive cover 7.6% (JNCC, online) of UK waters with the lion’s share being in inshore waters. It is hoped that the application of the Directive in UK waters will lead to both the protection of biodiversity and an increased abundance in fish stocks.
