- 03/09/2015
- Posted by: Joyce Watson MS
- Category: Feature
Today (3 September) Joyce Watson, the Labour Assembly Member for Mid and West Wales, joined members of Wales Environment Link’s Marine Working Group and the Wildlife Trust of South and West Wales to visit one of the Wildlife Trusts reserves.
Mrs Watson joined conservation officers at Cemaes Head, which is owned by The Wildlife Trust and is the most northerly of the many fine headlands on the Pembrokeshire coast overlooking the broad sweep of the mouth of the Teifi estuary. The site is known for its herring gulls, fulmars and shags breed, together with a colony of cormorants.
The purpose of the site visit was to showcase these habitats for marine wildlife and discuss current and future legislation to protect Wales’s marine environment. This includes potential new Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) for seabirds and harbour porpoises, the inclusion of marine issues in the draft Environment Bill and the capacity of the Wales National Marine Plan to both provide a framework for the sustainable development of Welsh seas and to safeguard Wales’s marine environment.
Mrs Watson AM is a member of the Welsh Assembly’s Environment and Sustainability Committee, whose remit is to scrutinise the maintenance, development and planning of Wales’s natural environment.
Mrs Watson also raised the issue of marine litter, ahead of this month’s Great British Beach Clean campaign organised by the Marine Conservation Society. She said:
“A healthy marine environment is not only important for our economy, but supports vital jobs around our coast and benefits the health and well-being of people in Wales now, and for future generations.”
Scott Fryer, Marine Campaign and Policy Officer for Wildlife Trusts Wales, said:
“We are very pleased that Mrs Watson was able to join us at Cemaes Head, as from here you can see the vast marine wildlife Wales has to offer. We are at a critical stage to protect Welsh seas for the benefit of everyone in Wales and need to ensure that the correct legislation and policy is in place to effectively manage our seas now and for the future.”
