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Jersey may not meet its target of protecting 30% of its marine environment by 2030, the Environment Minister has revealed.
The pledge, known as “30x30” is part of an international agreement championed by former Environment Minister Jonathan Renouf.
The initiative aims to conserve 30% of the world's land and sea habitats and protect them from destructive practices by 2030.
For Jersey, this means expanding its network of areas that prohibit destructive fishing practices from only 6.4% to cover nearly a third of its territorial waters in the next six years.
Pictured: Environment Minister Deputy Steve Luce.
While the current Environment Minister Steve Luce admitted the ‘30x30’ target might not be reached, he pointed to the significant increase in marine protected areas from just 6% to 23% in the draft Marine Spatial Plan, which is due to be debated in the States Assembly next month.
Deputy Luce added that his focus is not solely on hitting the 30% mark but rather on ensuring that the protections implemented are meaningful and backed by data.
Speaking to the Environment, Housing, and Infrastructure Scrutiny Panel yesterday, Deputy Luce said: “We may not get to 30% by 2030, but that’s not my main focus.
“I want to be quite clear I am not the Minister who's come in and said: 'We have got to get to 30 by 30'. But I accept that the moment, we're not anywhere near the 23% protection we have in this draft of the plan.
"And I accept that by 2030 we will be a lot closer to 30% but we may not get there, not initially. That's not my driving force behind this at all.
“I want to ensure the protections we implement are meaningful and backed by research… and there are some areas where we want more research done.
“We need to be really sure that if we're designating a particular area as a marine protected area, there's something to protect."
Pictured: Marine Protected Areas come with protection against potentially destructive fishing practices such as bottom trawling.
Marine Resources data officer Samantha Blampied added: “We didn't want to be including areas in a potential ‘30x30’ network that don't have any benefits associated with it."
Deputy Steve Luce's admission that Jersey might not achieve this goal by the 2030 deadline comes just weeks before the draft Marine Spatial Plan is set to be debated in the States Assembly.
The Plan, which was recently published by the Government in a revised form, aims to provide "a framework for organising human and marine resources and activities in Jersey's territorial waters", according to the final draft of the document.
Specifically, it seeks to balance the competing interests of various stakeholders, from commercial fishermen to environmentalists, as the island faces growing pressures on its marine resources and issues such as overfishing and habitat destruction.
The new draft included reducing the size of areas protected under the plan from 27% to 23% of Jersey’s territorial waters following consultation with the fishing industry.
Pictured: The proposed new plans.
Deputy Steve Luce said this iteration of the plans found a "balance" between the different uses of the marine environment and that it was designed to protect marine biodiversity while also allowing the fishing fleet to continue operating.
“For me, 30x30 was not a prerequisite,” he said. “I want to get the fishing fleet to a point where we’ve got lots of protected areas, but there’s still plenty of fish for them to make a living.
“We need to take small steps, with financial assistance for the industry.”
He explained that his stance is focused on gradual progress, with steps towards protection rather than an all-at-once approach, with some areas being "grandfathered" for a period to allow fishermen to adapt.
Pictured: The draft Marine Spatial Plan aims to balance the competing interests of various stakeholders, from commercial fishermen to environmentalists.
Deputy Luce explained: “Rather than doing everything in one hit immediately, we've tried to mix and match a bit too to help everybody, if you like."
He added: “I’m not here to put fishermen out of business. We’ve made concessions to ensure their livelihoods are less impacted on day one.”
While the ‘30x30’ target remains a long-term goal, the Minister emphasised that the Marine Spatial Plan is a "live document" that will continue to evolve as new research becomes available.
“There are ways to get to 30x30, but we need to do it genuinely,” Deputy Luce concluded. “We are protecting these parts of our waters for the right reasons.”
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