Commentary on provisions of Act Schedule 10: Amendments of the Marine and Coastal Access Act 2009
Part 1 provides powers and duties for the MMO to carry out or provide research, advice, assistance and training facilities outside the UK marine area. or to persons outside the UK. This is to enable the MMO to support the Government’s Blue Belt Programme and the future "Blue Planet Fund" and to provide advice and assistance on sustainable fisheries, marine planning, licensing and conservation to the UK’s overseas territories and to other persons outside the UK.
	Part 2 confers additional powers on the MMO, the Welsh Minsters, the Scottish Ministers and the Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs in Northern Ireland (DAERA) to make byelaws or orders relating to the exploitation of sea fisheries resources for purposes of marine conservation. Prior to Part 2 coming into force, the MMO and Welsh Ministers were only able to make byelaws or orders in connection with Marine Conservation Zones (MCZs) and byelaw and order making powers were only exercisable in the inshore area (0-12 nautical miles). Part 2 confers powers on the MMO and the Welsh Ministers to make byelaws and orders in England and the English offshore region (12-200 nautical miles) and Wales and the Wales offshore region respectively. It also enables Scottish Ministers and DAERA to make orders in the Scottish offshore region and the Northern Ireland offshore region respectively.
	Paragraphs 7 to 9 of Part 2 make changes consequential on the new provisions. Paragraph 10 amends section 129 of MCAA to provide that byelaws for the protection of MCZs may be made subject to specified conditions or for a specific period of time.
	Paragraph 11 inserts a new section 129A into MCAA. This section confers on the MMO the power to make byelaws in England relating to the exploitation of sea fisheries resources for the purpose of conserving marine flora or fauna, or marine habitats or habitat types. "England" includes the 0 -12 nautical miles English inshore region.
	"Sea fisheries resources" is defined in section 153(10) of MCAA as any plant or animal that habitually lives in the sea (with some exceptions) and "exploitation" is defined in section 153(12) of MCAA and includes fishing activities, selling, buying or introducing to the sea or cultivating sea fisheries resources, and such activities can be carried out for commercial purposes or otherwise. The effect of this is that the marine conservation byelaws must be for the purpose of marine conservation in connection with these activities.
	Paragraph 11 inserts a new section 129B into MCAA which confers on the MMO a power to make byelaws relating to the English offshore region.. Again, such a byelaw would have to be made for the purposes of marine conservation in connection with the exploitation of sea fisheries resources.
	New section 129C of MCAA contains further provision on byelaws made under sections 129A and 129B. Paragraphs (2) to (4) of section 129C contain particular examples of matters which byelaws may make provision about, for example prohibiting or restricting exploitation in specific areas or during specific periods, or the use of permits, including the charging of fees for permits.
	Paragraph 12 amends section 130 of MCAA, which deals with procedural matters for byelaws (such as their publication), so that these provisions also apply to the new byelaws made under section 129A and 129B. Also, subparagraph (4) inserts a provision requiring the MMO to send a draft byelaw relating to the offshore region to the Devolved Administrations if the byelaw might or would affect the exploitation of sea fisheries resources in their respective offshore regions.
	Paragraph 13 amends section 131 of MCAA, which makes provision for emergency byelaws to protect MCZs. The amendment applies the emergency byelaw provisions to byelaws made under new section 129B in relation to the English offshore region, so that these byelaws can be made without the confirmation of the Secretary of State, where there is an urgent need to protect the English offshore region.
	Paragraph 14 amends section 132 of MCAA, which makes provision for interim byelaws to protect features in England. The amendments make provision for interim orders to protect features in the English offshore region.
	Paragraphs 15 and 16 make consequential changes, including the insertion of a subsection (3A) into section 133 of MCAA requiring the MMO to send a copy of a byelaw made under section 129B or section 132(1A) to the Welsh Ministers, Scottish Ministers or DAERA (as appropriate) if it will or may affect the exploitation of sea fisheries in their respective offshore region.
	Paragraphs 17 to 20 confer on Welsh Ministers the same powers to make provision for Wales (including the Welsh inshore region) and the Welsh offshore region, by order, as is conferred on the MMO in relation to byelaws. The new sections are 134A to 134C and these mirror new sections 129A to 129C.
	Paragraph 21 inserts new sections 137A to 137H into MCAA. These confer powers on the Scottish Ministers and DAERA to make orders relating to the exploitation of sea fisheries resources in their respective offshore regions for marine conservation purposes. These are substantially similar to the powers in the offshore region that are conferred on the MMO and Welsh Ministers. Urgent orders made by Scottish Ministers and by DAERA are time-limited (see sections 137B(5) and 137F(5) respectively).
	The remainder of this Schedule makes further minor and consequential amendments to MCAA that relate to the above provisions. These include amendments to provisions on offences and penalties, so that they apply to the contravention of the new byelaws and orders. Provisions on the enforcement of nature conservation legislation are amended to include the new byelaws and orders, so that powers of marine enforcement officers extend to enforcing them.