Marine and Coastal Access Bill [HL]

I warmly endorse my noble friend’s amendment on two grounds. I suspect—although I hope that I am wrong—that the Minister will say something on the lines of, ““Of course, the MMO will consult the best possible scientific expertise available””. When an organisation is set up with the burden that the MMO will have, it is extremely important that the ““best available scientific expertise””—I am deliberately using the wording in Amendment 28—is there for the MMO to consult. It will not be good enough to say at this stage that that is what is intended. The burden on the MMO will be huge. I have some outdated experience, gathered when I had the enormous privilege some 35 years ago of working in a somewhat junior capacity in an association chaired by the redoubtable Commandeur Jacques-Yves Cousteau. He taught me in a very short time more about the potential of the marine environment than anybody could. I am not a marine scientist—I am not even a scientist—but even at that age he made a huge impression on me, none of which has left me. I urge the Minister, even if he cannot accept the specific words of my noble friend’s amendment, to take the intent extremely seriously. I repeat that the burden on the MMO will be very great. If we do not get it right at this stage, there will be problems in the future.