eftec, has commenced work for the Joint Nature Conservation Committee (JNCC) to produce impact assessments (IAs) to accompany the intended designation of two Special Areas of Conservation (SACs) in UK offshore waters (beyond 12 nautical miles). The draft IAs will accompany JNCC’s public consultation on the sites in 2009 and will appear alongside the relevant consultation documents on the JNCC website in due course. IAs for marine protected areas are complicated by many factors such as the limited knowledge of marine ecosystems and the impact of current human activities on them, and uncertainty over future exploitation of marine resources such as energy and aggregates. To handle these uncertainties, eftec has applied the methodology for marine IAs that we developed for JNCC in relation to the first UK SACs, which were designated in 2008.

eftec, has also started work for Natural England on IAs for the UK’s first proposed marine inshore Special Protection Areas (SPAs) and SACs. Inshore sites are inevitably accessed by a wider range of marine interests, including local stakeholders as well as the larger interests who dominate activities at offshore sites. As a result eftec’s team, which includes ABPmer and other marine experts, will be undertaking a consultation process covering local and national issues relating to all the proposed sites. This will result in the further development of our IA approach for marine protected areas.