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2nd Oxford Ocean Policy Symposium: The New Governance: The Marine Bill and the Future of our seas

10am to 4pm, 13 February 2009, Magdalen College Auditorium

The School of Geography and the Environment (SoGE) will be hosting the second Ocean Policy Symposium bringing together leading experts on ocean policy issues with graduate students. The aim of the day is to address cutting-edge issues of ocean policy and explore what we as Oxford students, and future leaders in research and environmental management around the world, could contribute.

There will be 4 main sessions, each led by guest speakers, as follows:

The seas surrounding the UK are some of the most diverse in Europe, but increasing anthropogenic pressures have lead to a serious deterioration of the UK marine environment. In 2004 the Royal Commission released a report looking at the dire situation in our seas and the government has responded by producing arguably, one of the most comprehensive pieces of environmental legislation ever, the Marine Bill.

The bill is a unique and critical legislative framework which delivers the governments stated goal of "clean, healthy, safe, productive and biologically diverse oceans and seas". Among other things the bill aims to create a network of marine conservation zones (MCZ) around the UK and form establish the Marine Management Organisation, a centre of marine excellence, to regulate development and activity at sea and enforce environmental protection laws. The bill will be debated in upcoming parliamentary sessions with a view to have it enacted in April 2009.

The current debate and discussion surrounding the marine bill makes this a prominent and important topic on which to focus our Symposium. The Bill aims to provide a complete framework to manage our largest environment and raises a great deal of questions about the role of science and industry in environmental management. This symposium is significant not only for those interested in marine policy, but anybody who is interested in large scale environmental governance and conservation.

We have gathered specialists from across the field of marine management, science, policy and industry to debate the benefits and problems of the bill and give students and academics an overview of the great complexity and challenge of managing one of our most precious resources.

All are welcome! Enquiries to Nicholas Moss

Speaker Profiles

• Dr Peter Jones, Dept. of Geography, UCL.
  In relation to the Marine Bill introduced to Parliament in the Queen's Speech, Dr Peter Jones undertakes research on issues raised by the Marine Bill. Dr Peter Jones has provided a written Memorandum of Evidence on the role of the precautionary principle in justifying highly protected marine reserves to the Joint Committee on the Draft Marine Bill. This evidence was cited in supporting the Joint Committee's Recommendation that the precautionary principle should be employed to select Marine Conservation Zones where there is limited knowledge. Dr Peter Jones also undertook research on fishing industry views on the implications of the Marine Bill, particularly the issues raised by marine conservation zone proposals and wrote a briefing for Wildlife & Countryside LINK's Marine Bill campaign on why the weaknesses of the statutory marine nature reserve provisions must not be repeated in the Marine Bill.
• Dr Jen Ashworth, Natural England
• Tom Hooper, Director, Finding Sanctuary
  Tom Hooper joined Finding Sanctuary in 2005, when the project was first being planned and set up. Tom has a background in tropical marine ecology and has spent time in fisheries research in Tanzania, Zimbabwe and Madagascar and as a teacher in the UK. He has led research projects into reef fisheries and has a particular interest in marine education. Through this work he ultimately became involved in Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) and stakeholder involvement in decision making.
• Phillip McMullen, Head of Sustainability, SeaFish
  Philip MacMullen has worked in the fishing and seafood industries for over 30 years. He has 25 years' experience in the management of very diverse research and development programmes focusing on fish harvesting technology and the interactions between fisheries, the broader natural environment, management regimes and the market. He also has extensive knowledge of the seafood industry in the UK, continental Europe and elsewhere plus consultancy experience in the Middle East and the Americas. All of his work has reflected a keen interest in issues relating to sustainable and integrated development and has benefited from his strong record in initiating and co-ordinating research and development projects. In early 2005 Philip was appointed Head of Environment at Seafish. This new post was built on his existing skills and experience. Much of his current work involves encouraging dialogue between the disparate stakeholders that have an interest in the marine environment, looking for the factors that are driving their policy decisions and exploring supply chain solutions where there are problems in sustainable or responsible sourcing. This involves working with the major players in the multiple retail and foodservice sectors, with regulators and conservationists and with fishermen and their representatives.