East Grampian residents with an interest in marine management are invited to contribute to a Scottish Government consultation.

The Marine (Scotland) Act has introduced a new era for the management of Scotland’s seas with innovative planning provisions, which will allow more effective management of the competing demands being made on marine resources.

Views are now requested on the creation of Scottish Marine Regions, which is the first step in allowing planning activities to take place at a local level. To support the consultation process, East Grampian Coastal Partnership is hosting two open events on Wednesday 26th January.

The events take place at:

• Museum of Scottish Lighthouses, Fraserburgh from 9.30am

• Town and County Hall, Aberdeen from 1.30pm.

Refreshments will be provided .

The programme includes a presentation from Marine Scotland, plus opportunities for questions and discussion of options for Marine Region boundaries in the north east.

For further information and to register for either event, please contact Ian Hay on 01224 395151.

ENDS

The National Marine Plan will set out the strategic objectives for the Scottish marine area. In order to take forward the objectives that the National Plan will present, smaller Scottish Marine Regions need be created to allow planning to take place at a local level.

This consultation seeks views on how the Government should create these regions and offers a number of options, e.g. division of the coastline on the basis of physical characteristics or on existing administrative boundaries?

Consultation on this process is now underway and will close on 18 February 2011.    The full consultation document and supporting information can be downloaded from scotland.gov.uk/Topics/marine/seamanagement/regional/Consultation.

Contact

Ian Hay
Project Manager
EGCP
c/o The Macaulay Land Use Research Institute
Cragiebuckler
Aberdeen
AB15 8QH
Tel: 01224 395151
E-mail: egcp@macaulay.ac.uk