Developing general rules to facilitate evidence-based policy for mariculture development in and around Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) in England

Executive Summary

• Marine ecosystems face ever-increasing demands from human activities and there is an urgent need for evidence-based policy and decision making to ensure sustainable management of marine resources.
• Globally, marine capture fisheries have plateaued or are in decline, driving the need for aquaculture expansion to satisfy an ever increasing demand for seafood.
• Marine aquaculture (mariculture) has considerable potential to contribute to sustainable ‘blue’ growth in the UK, particularly in England where the industry (predominantly shellfish mariculture) currently occupies a very small proportion (<0.1%) of the country’s territorial coastal waters.
• The majority (>70%) of mariculture sites in England are located within MPAs and have co-existed as such over long periods of time (for up to 100 yrs).
• We evaluate the availability of baseline data, and the development of habitat feature-specific risk assessment tools and general rules for facilitating mariculture development within MPAs.
• In the final analysis, we set out a series of recommendations for the development of MPA/marine planning assessment tools and rules and their integration within a transparent decision-making framework (e.g. decision tree) for regulators and prospective mariculture licencees.