Part of the debate – in the Senedd at 3:42 pm on 10 January 2018.
And the final point, if I can conclude on this, is that there is a lack of clarity about how we take this forward now for the future. Due to that lack of data, due to the lack of resources over a large period of time, there is complete confusion, it has to be said, about how we take forward marine protected areas, and the interaction of those marine protected areas with other areas in which we want to see sustainable activities, including fishing, including coastal communities profiting from those areas, including marine developments that we discussed yesterday as part of the marine plan. And we were unable to really get to the heart of that because there is that lack of transparency that's been referred to, and there is that lack of clarity about who is responsible for what and who will lead. The clearest message that came from the evidence was that the stakeholders wanted the Welsh Government to lead, but the Welsh Government was not prepared to lead, and I think that's something that the Cabinet Secretary really has to get hold of and assert her authority on within the department and the way we take it forward.
Now, how do we take this forward in the future? Well, as we leave the European Union, of course, a lot of these designations will change. A lot of them are under EU habitats and bird directives. Some are designated as marine conservation zones, which are also EU law, but some are international law—Ramsar sites, I think, is international law. And therefore, to conclude on this, if I may, Deputy Presiding Officer, we have this mix of law and that some will apply and some won't as we leave the European Union, and we also have this challenge to the European Union (Withdrawal) Bill itself under the Aarhus convention as to whether we're actually taking into account stakeholders' concerns in all of this. I don't think the response from the Government to date has really addressed the committee's concerns, and I very much hope that this debate will help lead to further interaction between the committee and the Government to ensure better action in this area.