Around the UK
The UK marine bill cannot address all issues in devolved countries, so there is an urgent need for the governments in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland to develop complementary legislation for their own waters.
This will be important, for example, when managing fisheries and nature conservation in coastal waters - because many marine species move, and sea bed habitats may span the seas in different countries. We can’t put up fences at sea, so it makes sense to manage our waters in 'biogeographical' regions. This means managing regions drawn up according to characteristics of the sea bed and marine biodiversity. So it is important that devolved countries work closely together to implement successful Marine Spatial Planning and conservation across all UK seas.