Marine and Coastal Access Bill [HL]

My Lords, I support the amendment of the noble Baroness, Lady Miller of Chilthorne Domer. I used to be completely dubious about highly protected marine conservation zones. I was not convinced that it was necessary—this will be music to the Minister’s ears—to have this provision in the Bill. A number of groups tried to persuade me otherwise and, of all the arguments I heard, one changed my mind considerably and I now believe that the Government should fulfil the commitment they made in their response to the Joint Committee report to include a reference to such sites in the Bill. They have not carried out that commitment. The reason I was persuaded otherwise was rather bizarre. I, too, commend the very good book produced by the Wildlife Trust movement, but other groups spoke to me about this. We are still in the infancy of marine conservation science. We do not know very much about what goes on under the sea; we do not have good baseline information; and we do not know the true richness of our seas, particularly those closer to our coasts, or what they are capable of because we have not got a memory that goes back to a time when they were not quite heavily exploited, particularly by fisheries. So, unless we get some sites where economic activity is excluded—they do not need to be extensive—and the absolute requirement is that nature be allowed to bounce back to whatever level it naturally bounces back to, we will not know what the marine environment is capable of. We all bang on about Lundy, but it is the only live experiment of that kind that we have had so far and it is not a particularly good one. But the richness, size and robustness of the marine ecosystem that was generated as a result of excluding fishing and lobster exploitation from that area should encourage the Minister to go back to the original intention in the Government’s response to the Joint Committee and signal to the Secretary of State that some highly protected areas are desirable and should be in the Bill. I am not exactly sure of the quotation—something about a sinner saved being worth more than anyone else—but I was a sinner. I did not believe in highly protected marine conservation zones; but now I do.