Diolch, Llywydd. I think marine discussions are a bit like buses—you wait a very long time for one and two come along very quickly. I am delighted to open today’s debate on the report from the Climate Change, Environment and Rural Affairs Committee on the management of marine protected areas in Wales. I need to thank the previous Chair of the committee, Mark Reckless, and members of the committee who worked on this inquiry—Jenny Rathbone, Huw Irranca-Davies and Siân Gwenllian—who are no longer members of this committee. I really thank them for the work they did in producing what I think has been a very good report.

This is the second debate, as I said, held this week in the Chamber on marine policy. I believe it's a very important policy and it’s appropriate that it should be given this level of focus. Somebody once said that we shouldn't be called planet earth, we should be called planet water, because far more of our surface is covered by water than is covered by earth. So, I think that we do need to give the marine environment a great deal of thought. The marine environment makes up over half of the area of Wales and is home to some of the most biologically diverse habitats and species in Europe. In order to make sure they will survive and benefit future generations, two thirds of Welsh seas are protected in some way due to their vulnerability.

The response to the report: the committee made 12 recommendations in total, 11 of which were accepted in full or in principle by the Welsh Government. Despite our recommendations being accepted, however, it is unclear what, if anything, will be done differently as a result. In order to address this, I wrote to the Cabinet Secretary to seek clarification. A response was received in advance of this debate and this exchange of correspondence is accessible via today’s Plenary agenda.