Marine and Coastal Access Bill [HL]

I commend the noble Lord for his alertness in comparing different parts of the Bill and seeking to point out inconsistencies. Of course, that is impossible, but he raises a legitimate point. The question of emergency by-laws has been dealt with differently in relation to IFCAs in contrast to the MMO. Those differences are appropriate. Inshore fishery and conservation authorities are under a duty to protect the marine environment. As the noble Lord, Lord Taylor, suggested, it is much better that they go through the regular by-law-making channels to fulfil that duty, but there may be an exception where a committee considers that there is an urgent need to introduce a by-law where the need for such a by-law could not reasonably have been foreseen. To give an example, an IFCA could introduce an emergency by-law to prevent an activity such as scallop dredging where it is found to be damaging an ecosystem and where significant damage could occur if the activity were not stopped quickly. For the most part, we expect IFCAs to anticipate damaging fishing activity and introduce a regular by-law to regulate any damaging activity. We want the emergency by-law provision to be used only where a damaging fishing activity could not have reasonably been foreseen and a by-law is considered urgent. We would be worried about removing the criteria of it being unforeseeable, because then the provision in the Bill would not be proportionate. Why is that different from the MMO emergency by-laws? The MMO by-laws have been designed to regulate threats to nature conservation from non-fishery-related activity where an urgent need for protection has arisen. For the most part, those will be unregulated activities, such as regulating the speed of jet skiers, which may be more difficult to predict and plan ahead for. On the other hand, IFCAs will be regulating threats from fishing activity within their district, so it would not be appropriate to regulate fishing impacts through emergency measures in the same way as non-fishing impacts because, for the most part, the regulation of commercial activity should predominantly be subject to full consultation and confirmation by the Secretary of State. Only where the committee considers that there is an urgent need for protection where a damaging activity could not have been readily foreseen should the power to introduce an emergency by-law be used. On Amendment A234D, my response is the same. We would expect inshore fisheries and conservation authorities to go through the regular by-law-making channels. It is important that the Secretary of State is satisfied that every effort was made by the IFCA to introduce a by-law in the time that the emergency by-law was in place before approving any extension. It is important to note that the regular by-law-making channels are a democratic and evidence-based approach to regulation, where full consultation is carried out and confirmation by the Secretary of State is required. In essence, the IFCAs are probably in a better position than the MMO to forecast the activities that need to be covered by by-laws. We need the backstop of emergency by-laws. It is rather different with IFCAs, where it may be more difficult to anticipate in advance the activity to be covered. That is why there is a more open-ended approach to emergency by-law-making when it comes to the MMO.