The Scottish Government

Oceans and seas cover 70 per cent of the Earth's surface. They are a major and distinct source of natural resources, offering us food from fisheries and aquaculture, and opportunities to exploit both renewable energy sources such as wind, wave and tidal power and existing supplies of minerals and fossil fuels. At the same time, the marine environment contains a unique and diverse range of species and habitats, with half of the UK's biodiversity found in our surrounding waters.

The marine and coastal waters around Scotland are vitally important to the sustainable future of the country. Our coasts and seas provide food from fisheries, energy and mineral resources, routes and harbours for shipping, tourism and recreational opportunities and sites of cultural and historical interest, which meet many of our economic and social needs particularly in remote rural areas. At the same time, they contain distinctive and important habitats and support a diverse range of species which we need to protect, conserve and enhance. The Scottish Government, therefore, is committed to ensuring the sustainable use of our coasts and seas and the resources that they contain.

Our aim is to secure a vision of clean, healthy, safe, productive and biologically diverse marine and coastal environments, managed to meet the long term needs of nature and people. Good progress has been made in approaching this vision by tackling the problems facing our oceans and seas, but we must do more nationally and internationally to tackle the threats that remain.

Within the Scottish Government Marine Directorate, the Marine Management Division is responsible for co-ordinating marine issues throughout the Scottish Government and for raising the public awareness of Scotland's marine environment. The division comprises two teams:

• Marine Strategy
• Marine Biodiversity Policy & Sustainable Management

Marine Strategy

Key priorities are to:

• take forward the work of the Advisory Group on Marine and Coastal Strategy
• ensure Scotland's interests are represented in the development of UK legislation and in EU and International initiatives
• develop and consult on proposals for Scottish marine legislation

The team also:

• oversees the policy for licensing deposits in the sea under FEPA (1985) Part II and international agreements, including OSPAR, and has responsibility to develop the input to EU marine strategies
• manages the Scottish Government's offshore emergency response procedures and informs policy on Ballast Water
• has policy responsibility for Integrated Coastal Zone Management (ICZM), including liaison with and providing secretariat to the Scottish Coastal Forum (SCF)
• provides the secretariat for the Fisheries and Offshore Oil Consultative Group

Marine Biodiversity Policy & Sustainable Management

Marine nature conservation is of increasing interest in Scotland, both at a UK-wide level and internationally. The team leads on Scottish Government policies on marine nature conservation including Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) and strategies for wider habitat and species protection, including for marine mammals. The team leads for the Scottish Government on:

• advice and policy on implementation of the Birds and Habitats Directive in marine and coastal areas, including Scotland's contribution to the EU-wide network of Natura 2000 sites
• biodiversity aspects of the OSPAR Convention on the Protection of the North East Atlantic, including OSPAR MPAs in Scotland
• marine nature conservation aspects of other international treaties such as the Convention on Biological Diversity and the World Summit on Sustainable Development
• national policies on marine biodiversity.

The team seeks to take forward policy in these areas wherever possible in a way that is consistent with the principles of sustainable development and which respects traditional uses of our seas in a sustainable manner. This involves working with a wide range of stakeholders representing industry, government, the science community and other interests.

The team also leads on several new sustainable management initiatives, including the Scottish Sustainable Marine Environment Initiative.

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