PROJECT TO DELIVER NEW FISHERIES MANAGEMENT AND MARINE ENFORCEMENT REGIME
- STAKEHOLDER ADVISORY GROUP

- TERMS OF REFERENCE

Background

The Minister for Rural Affairs, Elin Jones, announced in September that the Welsh Assembly Government will assume full responsibility for sea fisheries management and enforcement in Wales. The aim of the new policy is to modernise fisheries management, providing a consistent management structure for the whole of Wales by simplifying the current regime and ensuring greater transparency.

The Minister for Rural Affairs and the Minister for Environment, Sustainability and Housing have agreed that the new regime will also be responsible for Fisheries and marine enforcement.

The Ministers are keen to work closely with all stakeholders of fisheries and the marine environment to help shape the future of fisheries and marine management in Wales. As such, the Welsh Assembly Government is committed to developing mechanisms to ensure all relevant stakeholders and local interests can feed effectively into policy development and delivery.

You have been invited to join the Stakeholder Advisory Group, which will have a critical role in shaping the future of fisheries management and marine enforcement in Wales. To achieve this effectively we would expect members to listen to other group members’ views and seek to understand each others’ positions. Also to gain a broad understanding of the environmental, socio-economic and economic factors required and to produce balanced input to achieve the best outcome for Wales.

Main roles of the Group

Group members will:

• provide wider understanding of the factors involved in fisheries management and marine enforcement and the views of other sectors and stakeholders and provide balanced input;
• advise on practical options and balanced recommendations for further developing local and national engagement with fisheries and marine management, drawing on the expertise of the Group’s members and the people that the Group members represent;
• review externally facing proposals for fisheries management and marine enforcement, as detailed in the work plan, to achieve a pan-Wales view;
• agree minutes and other communication statements from each meeting and use these to keep wider stakeholders appraised of project progress; and
• input into the development and circulation of a stakeholder newsletter.

 

Membership

We would expect only one representative from each organisation / sector to attend each meeting to keep the group small and focussed. For those organisations with more than one representative, we would expect one person to attend per meeting.

 

Meetings

The Group will be expected to meet approximately four times during the next year to review project output, with 2 – 3 additional workshops to develop options and recommendations for the mechanism to ensure local and national input into fisheries management and marine enforcement. The Group will agree minutes of each meeting.

 

Decision making

The Chair of the Stakeholder Advisory Group will feed agreed comments and advice to the Project Board, which will consider this advice when making decisions about the project. The Senior Responsible Officer (SRO) is responsible for engaging the Ministers in decisions when required.

Structure of the Group

Name	Organisation	Representing
Stuart Evans (Chair)	WAG Fisheries Unit	WAG Fisheries Unit
Stephen Lockwood	NWNWSFC	NWNWSFC
Nick O’Sullivan	SWSFC	SWSFC
Huw Evans (provisional)	EA	EA
Louise George	WAG Marine Policy	WAG Marine Policy
Philip Davies	Welsh Local Government Association	Local Authorities
Jerry Percy / Dr John Fish	Welsh Federation of Fishermen’s Associations	Commercial sea fishing
Kim Mould / James Wilson	Welsh Aquaculture Producers Association	Sea aquaculture
Roger Cook	Recreational Sea Angling Stakeholder Representative	Recreational sea angling
Iwan Ball / Annie Smith	Wales Environment Link	Environmental NGOs
Pat  O’Reilly (provisional)	CCW	CCW
Lynda Warren	Wales Coastal and Maritime Partnership	Sustainable development / local input
Chris Preston (transient / corresponding member)	Defra	Defra
Neville Kinnear (transient  member)	Dee Estuary Sea Fisheries Liaison Group	To attend when agenda includes discussion on Dee Estuary cross border issues

Project Team
Fisheries Unit
Welsh Assembly Government                                                       May 2009