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| The Sans Vitesse is an accommodation barge for oil workers, moored in Lerwick harbour |
"No seatbelts off on this flight" said the pilot
as the small Saab turboprop leapt into the air. We bounced through the murk,
accompanying the small group of relaxed Shetlanders and nervous Chinese oil
terminal workers heading out to help service the main economic activity on the
70 mile chain of Islands. And then the anticipated descent, lurching for long
minutes a few hundred feet over mountainous seas blurred white with spindrift.
And a short climb over rocky outcrops in the boiling waters below the windswept
lighthouse of Sumburgh Head, a sharp turn and what seemed to be a full power
noisy but perfect landing. The sigh of relief from passengers was palpable,
even from the wry cabin attendant who was clutching a toilet roll and bags
ready for the inevitable. "Hang on as you get out" we were warned as
we braced ourselves for the howling wind.
And so to the little port of Scalloway, parking next to a
brightly lit Christmas tree bent double by the wind. "You're lucky"
said the hotelier, "the next flight was cancelled".
We didn't come here as adrenaline junkies: we had arranged
to meet with colleagues from the NAFC Marine Centre, a specialist partner of UHI
like my institute, SAMS. The smart modern buildings of the Centre increasingly
staffed by qualified young people who have returned to the islands, started as
the North Atlantic Fisheries College but the name changed in pace with
Shetland's broadening economy and evolving view of marine management. This is a
story worth telling because Shetland has pioneered one of Europe's first marine
spatial plans and this is being granted statutory designation in Scotland.
Shetland's twenty
thousand or so inhabitants have always been better served by resources from the
sea than those provided by the bleak treeless landscape. "There's fish on
the menu; we're surrounded by them" I was told in a Scalloway restaurant.
But the popular view of abundance belies the fact that some resources were
heavily overfished, requiring management measures such as the 'Shetland
Box' negotiated with local fishermen. As early as 1974, the Zetland County
Council Act gave authority over most management issues out to 12 nautical miles
and the Council took an early lead in promoting Integrated Coastal Zone
Management. This was at a time where there were radical changes in the use of
marine space: new fin fish and shellfish aquaculture, the Sullom Voe oil
terminal and rapid port development to deal with the burgeoning demands of a
rapidly expanding industry. As these demands increased, so did the need for
rational management of the precious marine space. And an awareness of the risks
was further heightened by the disastrous Braer oil spill in 1993, highlighting
the need to integrate environmental protection into planning.
So by 2004 when the concept of marine spatial planning began
to emerge, Shetland was already at the forefront of innovation in planning and
was an obvious choice for the first Scottish Sustainable Marine Environment
Initiative (SSMEI). This piloted approaches to be used in a marine strategy for
Scotland. NAFC played a leading role in this work, developing a relationship of
trust with the key stakeholders. The first maps were produced showing
development priorities. The evolution in thinking in the decade that has
followed is impressive. There are new issues on the agenda including proposals
for marine renewable energy, increased occurrence of toxic algal blooms,
climate change and the potential of seaweed aquaculture. And on top of that is
the changing legislative backdrop with designations of specially protected
areas, the emergent EU Marine Strategy Framework Directive and new marine
legislation at the UK and Scottish level. As each development has occurred,
there has been a need to respond at a local level, which explains why the 2014
iteration of the Marine Spatial Plan will be the fourth.
Skills and thinking in NAFC have also evolved rapidly. There
is a willingness to embrace new ideas on sensitivity mapping and cumulative
impacts and the 2014 plan will reflect the state of the art. There are tangible
benefits such as newly certified sustainable fisheries and the access these
give to quality markets. Culture and heritage are not ignored either, a
refreshing side to a potentially technocratic world. And this is reflected in
the NAFC itself which hosts a little enclave of the UHI Centre for Nordic
Studies, a reminder of Shetland's distant past that still resonates in its
special relationship with the sea. The
Nordic heritage is also celebrated in the somewhat contrived but hugely renowned
Up Helly Aa winter festival with the
characteristic burning of replica Viking longboats. How welcome a break this
must be from the five hours of weak winter daylight that we were witnessing.
Bodies such as NAFC are important at a community level,
providing an essential bridge between competing stakeholder needs and the
limited supply of natural system services to meet them. They can be seen as a
source of fairness, technology, information and transferrable skills but may
sometimes be undervalued when cheap short-term fixes replace more costly but
sound long-term planning. Hopefully this will not happen in Shetland and the
beacon of leadership in this field will shine far and wide. There are many
unresolved problems to be overcome but I leave Shetland with a positive feeling
about human endeavour … and what better way to finish the year!
- Link to new draft Shetland Islands Marine Spatial Plan
- Link to NAFC Marine Centre
- Link to the University of the Highlands and Islands (UHI)
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