Marine and Coastal Access Bill [HL]

In the name of my noble friend Lord Taylor of Holbeach, I beg to move Amendment A233. This amendment addresses the interaction between the new IFCAs and the existing Environment Agency. I appreciate that the Bill is drafted so as to draw a division between the responsibilities that will fall to these two bodies, since their territorial remit overlaps considerably. As it stands, the Environment Agency is to remain responsible for the fish specified in Clause 149(7), basically migratory and freshwater fish, while the IFCAs are to concentrate on other species. This appears on paper a very neat and tidy division, but of course in the real world it will be considerably more difficult to separate their respective responsibilities. In many ways this is the first time we have had a chance to look at the question of migratory and freshwater fish. The fisheries that the IFCAs will manage will in many cases directly impact on the attempts of the Environment Agency to conserve many of the fish specified in subsection (7) which, as is indicated, frequently spend much of their lives in saltwater. I am pleased that the Bill gives IFCAs the power to regulate fisheries in order to conserve fish that do not come directly under their remit, but as has often been the case there is little indication in this Bill of how the relationships between the different bodies will ensure that the implementation of these provisions meets their potential. Close interaction between the two agencies will be critical in estuarial and intertidal habitats, where there is no clear boundary between sea and freshwater, and the two classes of species frequently coexist. What possibility is there for IFCAs to delegate their functions to the Environment Agency, or vice versa, in areas where this in particular is the case? I hope the Minister can give some response.