Marine Planning Issues with Supporting Evidence

Ongoing and future changes in the ports and shipping industry will have implications for air quality. For example, the adoption of alternative fuels creates both challenges and opportunities for efforts to improve air quality, while any expansion of shipping (for example short-sea shipping) and port infrastructure may also have impacts on air quality. 

In the future, biodiversity net gain policy and natural capital approaches may help to address and mitigate against air quality issues. 

The impacts of climate change represent a key future challenge for marine biodiversity. There will likely be significant changes in the extents of key marine habitats and species, with associated implications for other marine functions in English waters.  

Shoreline Management Plans in the east inshore marine plan area are increasingly adopting coastal adaptation (managed realignment) and no active intervention strategies. The future East Marine Plan will need to consider the implications of coastal habitats transitioning from freshwater to marine, the ecosystem services provided by habitat creation during coastal adaptation, and the implications of coastal erosion for terrestrial sites used to achieve Biodiversity Net Gain. 

Predictions for the development of Sizewell C indicates a risk of disturbance to marine mammals in the area if impact piling is carried out for extended periods, particularly harbour porpoise and seals.  

The potential impacts from National Grid's proposed development in the east marine plan areas on marine mammals include underwater noise, vessel collisions and the potential for indirect effects through impacts to prey species. 

There is currently an evidence gap regarding how marine dredging operations may impact on the spread of invasive and non-native species. This currently inhibits assessment of risk and development of guidance. 

Non-native species may adapt more quickly to the effects of climate change, thus becoming invasive. Additionally, climate change and the associated effects (for example sea temperature rise) may result in changing species distributions and migratory patterns. It is unclear whether species which are introduced to an area due to climate change will be classified as non-native and potentially invasive. 

The amount of marine litter is increasing over time, resulting in future unknown impacts.

The United Nations Plastic Treaty has not been signed yet, but has potential to lead to new plastic policy, legislation and regulation. In turn, this could create new opportunities to tackle an important component of marine litter. 

Underwater noise from offshore wind farm development is likely to increase in the east marine plan areas and this could lead to future changes in noise regulation. 

As new technologies emerge (for example carbon capture and storage) and older technologies are decommissioned (for example oil and gas installations and, in the future, offshore wind farms) there will be a need to account for overlapping noise implications of future developments and novel procedures that may occur within the east marine plan areas. 

There is currently uncertainty in how Marine Net Gain (MNG) will be regulated and delivered. There will need to be a legislative/policy update to make MNG statutory. Pilot studies may be undertaken in the east marine plan areas to inform on what this might look like.  

There is uncertainty regarding how Marine Net Gain (MNG) could be incorporated into the marine plans (for example with a new policy focusing on marine net gain, or by including MNG in current policies), as well as how any MNG policy would be monitored. 

Climate change is continuing to alter ecosystem attributes in the east marine plan areas, including through ocean warming, acidification, deoxygenation and productivity changes. Future marine protection efforts may help mitigate against and adapt to the impacts of climate change, but must also be robust to those changes (for example future changes in Marine Protected Area boundaries may be required). 

Future development of legislation (for example Marine Net Gain) may present an opportunity to contribute positively to the Marine Protected Area (MPA) network. Effective policy development and coordination will be required to leverage legislative amendments to fortify the efficacy of MPA management strategies. 

The increasing risk of coastal flooding is particularly a problem in the east due to low lying areas, creating challenges including erosion and flooding of coastal landfills. Additionally, rising sea temperature (combined with run-off and eutrophication) will increase the frequency and duration of harmful algal blooms. 

Increasing population will put further stress on sewage infrastructure, with possible negative implications for water quality. Meanwhile, increasing marine development may result in cumulative impacts on marine water quality.