Marine (Scotland) Act 2010

The Marine Act 2010 is an act of the Scottish Parliament which provides a framework which will help balance competing demands on Scotland's seas. It introduces a duty to protect and enhance the marine environment and includes measures to help boost economic investment and growth in areas such as marine energy.

Provisions

The main measures include:

: a new statutory marine planning system to sustainably manage the increasing, and often conflicting, demands on our seas
: a simpler licensing system, minimising the number of licences required for development in the marine environment to cut bureaucracy and encourage economic investment
: improved marine nature and historic conservation with new powers to protect and manage areas of importance for marine wildlife, habitats and historic monuments
: much improved protection for seals and a new comprehensive licence system to ensure appropriate management when necessary
: a range of enhanced powers of marine conservation and licensing