Highly protected marine areas (HPMAs): Scottish Government's humiliating climbdown is yet another example of bad governance – Scotsman comment

While three highly protected marine areas are set to be designated in England within days, Scotland is going back to the drawing board

If the road to hell is paved with good intentions, then the SNP has just laid down another slab. There is widespread agreement that marine life is in trouble and needs help, but ministers’ mishandling of highly protected marine areas (HPMAs) yesterday forced them to admit defeat and ditch their current plans.

In contrast, the UK Government is set to designate three areas in English waters as HPMAs within the next few days. “Our marine environment is not as healthy as it needs to be,” it says. “HPMAs have a critical role to play in ocean recovery, by setting aside some areas of the sea with the highest levels of protection.”

Furthermore, the United Nations this month adopted a “landmark, legally binding, marine biodiversity agreement” covering international waters after nearly 20 years of what were described as “fierce negotiations”. And the European Union also plans to introduce “strict protections” in ten per cent of its seas by 2030.

Yet, here in Scotland, Net Zero Secretary Mairi McAllan told MSPs yesterday that, amid uproar from coastal communities, Scotland will no longer seek to bring in HPMAs covering ten per cent of Scotland’s seas by 2026, a move that would have banned fishing and other forms of human activity.

They will return to the drawing board, but by seeking to go too far, too fast, without taking other people with them, the SNP/Green coalition has damaged the cause of marine conservation. Attempts to revive HPMAs will be more politically difficult than if they had started smaller and put greater effort into negotiations with the fishing industry.

The same problem can be seen in the deposit return scheme fiasco and there are growing concerns about how the Scottish Government is going to handle efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from farming. After the views of fishermen, drinks manufacturers and retailers were sidelined, will the same happen to farmers?

Ministers who assume they know best and that people at the sharp end know nothing are unlikely to achieve anything of note in a democracy. The long-term cost of such poor governance and ideologically driven arrogance may be a high one.