I call on Rhun ap Iorwerth to speak to the topic he has chosen—Rhun.

Thank you very much, and thank you for your patience and your assistance in the face of IT difficulties.

The people of Anglesey and the banks of the Menai will be very familiar with the title of my debate today. The Prince Madog and its predecessor the original Prince Madog have been a familiar sight tied to the pier in Menai Bridge for decades, and I’m proud to be able to show it on the screens around us in the Chamber today. It’s the largest ship to be seen regularly on the Menai strait and all those who are proud of it know it’s a symbol of excellence in the School of Ocean Sciences at Bangor. Well, I hope I can make you even more proud of this vessel over the next 10 minutes and to persuade you of the importance of the Prince Madog now and its national potential for years to come. I look forward to hearing the Government’s response, and may I also say that I’ve agreed to give some time to Mark Isherwood to respond to my comments also?

We’ll start with some context. At 34m long, the RV Prince Madog is the largest research vessel in the higher education sector in the whole of the UK. It was built in 2001, but the investment in the vessel since then means that it’s a very modern vessel that can deal with a broad range of research tasks in Welsh waters and beyond within the continental shelf. It has multibeam sonar equipment for high-resolution mapping. It includes a side-scan sonar for sea bed morphology and profiling equipment for sub-bottom profiling to study the structure of the sea bed. It carries acoustic doppler current profiler equipment in order to measure current, CTD to take water measurements, and it carries equipment to assess everything that lives on the sea bed and in the water column, from plankton to fish species. It can work 24 hours a day for 10 days uninterrupted. In addition to that, of course, Bangor University has the scientific expertise to analyse and to use all of the data generated. In summary, therefore, the Prince Madog—the vessel, its equipment and the people who work with it—is exactly what is required to study the seas around Wales, and there’s a great deal to study.

We have 2,200 km of coastline, but our responsibilities and the responsibilities of Government extend way beyond that coastline—200 miles out. The surface of Wales—the land, that is—is some 21,000 sq km, but we have 32,000 sq km of sea bed, but we know little of it well. It’s a small proportion that has been studied and mapped.

The marine plan for Wales was published in November 2015. It was about time that we had one, I have to say, and the plan states that the Wales marine area includes valuable and varied natural resources that can provide significant economic and social opportunities and which contribute to the well-being of the nation and of future generations. It’s a statement that I agree entirely with, but, in reality, we know virtually nothing about those resources. It’s staggering how little of our sea bed has been mapped, given the detailed onshore mapping. Mapping of this kind is a priority on an EU level and has been for some time. This is what a commissioner for maritime affairs and fisheries said: 

‘our initiative'— the EU initiative—

'to create a digital map of the entire seabed of European waters will increase the predictability for businesses to invest, lowering costs and stimulate further innovation for sustainable blue growth.’

At the European level, there has been strategic thinking on how to carry out that mapping, but there has been no co-ordinated plan for the UK—no plan for Wales. The process of gathering data has been ad hoc. It hasn’t been properly co-ordinated, and that must change. Of course, we have the resource that we need to do that work. We see it on the screen: the Prince Madog.

So what’s the problem? Well, the funding model for the vessel has been very effective in the past. It has enabled Bangor University to have such a vessel. It is run jointly by the university and P&O Maritime as joint owners. The university uses the vessel for teaching and research for 125 days a year, and P&O Maritime looks for charters for the rest of the time, to make the project viable and sustainable. It’s been an excellent example of partnership between the public and private sector, but—and this is the reason for this debate—there is no pledge that we will have this resource in place post 2021. That’s when the current agreement comes to an end. There’s been a significant decline in the market for P&O’s commercial services making use of that particular vessel, and this puts the partnership at risk. As things look at present, it appears unlikely that P&O will be able to renew that contract. So, we need an alternative solution. What I want to see happening is the elevation of the Prince Madog from being the Bangor University research vessel to the status of a national maritime research ship. And, quite simply, we need such a vessel.

Off the Anglesey coast at the moment, there is some very exciting work happening in developing a demonstration zone for electricity generation techniques using the tides, and what makes that zone attractive to energy companies is that the preparatory work has been done for them by Morlais. It is they who run the initiative, including all of the mapping work and providing the information required on the state of the sea bed and where they can place their equipment. If we are truly serious about taking full advantage of the currents flowing around Wales, to bring economic and environmental benefits for future generations, then we need to do that mapping work to show what exactly the opportunities are. And if we don’t do it, then other nations will do it.

I mentioned earlier the strategic work of the European Commission, let’s look at what’s happening with our closest European neighbour in the Republic of Ireland. They have two national research vessels already. The main vessel, the Celtic Explorer, is 65m long, commissioned in 2003. Earlier this year, the Government of the Republic of Ireland said that they intended to by a new research ship to replace another of their vessels, namely the Celtic Voyager. Ireland knows that they must have these resources in order for them to take full advantage of their marine resources. The ‘Harnessing Our Ocean Wealth’ report published back in 2012 proposes an ambitious strategy that shows just how seriously Ireland is taking these opportunities. I haven’t seen a price for the new vessel—the Celtic Explorer, just out of interest, cost some €23 million back in 2003.

With the Prince Madog, we have a vessel in place already and it’s there for Wales, but Bangor University can’t afford to run it alone. They need support. Not tens of millions of pounds in capital, but support all the same. And without that support, it’s not just Bangor, but Wales, that would lose this excellent resource. There’s no other university in Britain that owns such a ship. For a university, it’s a very expensive resource, but for a nation that needs to invest in its future, we are talking about relatively small sums of money. I will give you an example of how it could work, and retaining a private, commercial partner as part of the deal too. Bearing in mind that there are years of mapping work that needs to be done—and it needs to be done for the economic benefit of Wales—if the Welsh Government became a partner in the Prince Madog as a national maritime research vessel, investing in 50 days a year, shall we say, then that could be enough to save the vessel. And maybe that could just be the start—50 days, some £5,000 a day, £250,000 per annum. That’s all we’re talking about, possibly, for mapping work that has the potential, let’s be honest, to release and to open the way to billions of pounds worth of marine energy projects, as well as being a source of crucial information in the areas of conservation, tourism, leisure, fisheries and food production.

I would argue that it is a very cost-effective means of delivering the data that we need for the future and of providing the necessary scientific analysis, and, in looking at it as support for a world-class school of ocean sciences, then it’s also a means of maintaining and strengthening the foundations for marine research in its broader sense, which also, of course, would provide an economic boost for Wales. This vessel attracts the best students from across the world to Wales.

To summarise, therefore, the prosperity of, and investment in, the blue economy in Wales depends on our understanding of the seas around us. We are in a privileged position of having the ability to carry out this research and we are lucky that we have the Prince Madog already, but let’s not take it for granted. Having left the European Union, there will be more responsibilities placed upon us as regards the management of our natural resources, but, to do that management, we will need the kind of scientific evidence that we simply don’t have at the moment. Wales has the ability to lead the way in tidal technology, and the Government has targets for increasing offshore energy production over the next years. But we must make that investment in energy generation easy, and, to do that, we need data and we need mapping.

The EU’s ambition, as I said earlier, is to map all of its seas. Ireland, as I said, is investing in this area already. But, at the moment, Wales still has no such programme in place and the Prince Madog is the key to that.

The Prince Madog is the key to future Welsh maritime research. It's the key to providing the science, providing the data, the evidence, to make the most of our maritime resources. We have to map our shores and sea bed or we get left behind. The majority of high-resolution imagery of the Welsh sea beds done to date has actually been produced by the RV Prince Madog. It's the best for the job. That has been done through the Welsh European Funding Office funded SEACAMS operation, but that operation will end soon.

Other nations are commissioning new research vessels, with Ireland deciding to update its fleet recently. We already have the ship that we need. Future investment and development in commercial marine activities would be significantly encouraged by establishing a national strategy for marine data gathering, developed in co-ordination with small and medium-sized enterprises and agencies, and this could be underpinned by the Prince Madog being recognised and invested in as our national marine research vessel. It's likely that this valuable resource, as it stands, will be lost to Wales if we don't have such a national strategy.

Tra môr yn fur i'r bur hoff bau—as long as the sea is there, says our national anthem, it will take care of our ancient nation. I paraphrase a bit. But let us look after and look into our sea like we've never done before. We have the platform to do it. It's called the Prince Madog. It could be our national maritime research vessel.

I visited the School of Ocean Sciences at Bangor University in Menai. I did question the Cabinet Secretary about this in February, when I said:

'Sea bed surveying and mapping are of key importance to our economy. The Irish have already acted on this. The EU is now starting too. There's a danger that both Wales and the UK will be left behind. Bangor University has the biggest university-run sea bed research vessel in the UK, the Prince Madog, which is key both to our economy and to fisheries management as we look to the future. But, it's only funded to 2020. What action will the Welsh Government therefore take to ensure critical and sustainable future funding, and to incorporate sea bed research into a strategic national plan?'

The Cabinet Secretary replied that she was

'aware that Bangor University are looking to identify future strategic scientific work for the Prince Madog' but, she said:

'It is a commercial matter for the universities and others in the consortium' so she wasn't able to comment any further. Well, the School of Ocean Sciences told me that, although the vessel is jointly owned and run, future Welsh Government funding and development of a strategic national plan will be critical. So, we're talking about a key national strategic asset, not simply private or commercially sensitive discussions. I hope therefore the Cabinet Secretary's response now will be more reflective both of the threat but also the opportunity that we're discussing now.

Thank you. Can I now call the Cabinet Secretary for Energy, Planning and Rural Affairs to reply to the debate? Lesley Griffiths.

Thank you, Deputy Presiding Officer. I'm very pleased to respond to this short debate regarding Prince Madog, brought forward by Rhun ap Iorwerth, and also to have the opportunity to discuss the marine part of my portfolio, which I don't think perhaps we do enough in this Chamber.

We all share a commitment to clean, healthy, safe, productive and biologically diverse seas. This means Government working with all of our stakeholders to have robust evidence to enable informed and integrated assessment of the state of our seas. As Rhun pointed out, this research, I think, will be even more important as we exit the EU and plan how we manage the condition and use of our seas in the future. 

I'm currently considering the responses to our first marine plan and that sets out our marine policies and management, which will be underpinned by good evidence. The Government is already part of a range of marine monitoring and assessment work programmes, including the achievement of good environmental status through the UK marine strategy. These programmes exist to provide the evidence to understand and respond to the health, condition, productivity and resilience of Welsh seas. They also provide an understanding of the key pressures on the marine ecosystem and interactions with human activity. 

Specific priority areas for collection include biodiversity data, both within marine protected areas and the wider marine environment, biological and landing data on stocks caught by commercial and recreational fisheries, data to assess the impact of human activities on the marine ecosystem, detailed data on the capacity and activity of fishing, and social, economic and environmental data on fisheries and aquaculture. 

In developing policy, we also take account of evidence presented through the 'Wales' Marine Evidence Report', 'The State of Natural Resources Report' for Wales, and the online marine planning evidence portal. We also commission and support targeted research on a wide range of marine subjects. In recent years, this has included reports on marine protected areas management and condition, reviews of aggregate dredging, assessing the impacts of fisheries' activities, studies of scallop dredging and assessments of the potential of aquaculture. We also have significant further evidence-related activity under way or planned, and some examples are development of a new marine biodiversity monitoring programme, various aquaculture studies, and research on marine energy development. 

With an eye to EU exit shortly after the referendum, I assembled a round-table group of representative stakeholders to seek their help to identify and understand the potential challenges and opportunities Brexit presents for Wales. The seas and coast sub-group, formed from members of the round-table and the existing Wales marine advisory and action group, has helped provide a focus on our consideration of Brexit and our seas. [Interruption.]

I'm sorry about this. Thank you very much.

So, the members have worked with me and the rest of the Government to shape five key themes to work towards as we leave the European Union to further guide our policy development, and one of these themes is standing on our two feet by enhancing our marine science and data collection capability. So, working with academia at a strategic and operational level is very much an important component of our research work, and the School of Ocean Sciences at Bangor University have been a very valuable partner to us in recent years. 

Compared to the terrestrial environment, there is sometimes limited evidence on the status of the marine environment and the impact of human activities on it, and such evidence can be expensive and technically challenging to collect, which is why I do appreciate that research vessels like the Prince Madog can play an important role. I think the point that Rhun ap Iorwerth made about not losing such a valuable asset is very important. 

So, in the first instance, what I've asked my officials to do is meet with Bangor University to see what problems they're facing, and to see how we can help. I too would also like to visit so I can have a photograph, like Rhun, on the vessel. I heard your call for a status of a national maritime ship. It's something we need to, obviously, look into. Again, around funding, obviously I can't commit, but I would be very happy to have those discussions with them. During my oral Assembly questions session this afternoon, I said to Rhun that Anglesey is becoming a real hub for tidal energy, and I think that part of north-west Wales is becoming even more important to the marine part of my portfolio. 

So, I'd be very happy to do that, and update Rhun and other Members in due course. Diolch.  

Thank you. That brings today's proceedings to a close. Thank you very much.

The meeting ended at 18:22.