Progress report: 4th workshop
PISCES held its fourth workshop on 8-9 November, 2011. PISCES Stakeholders, the Advisory Group and government representatives came together in Dorking, England to look at opportunities to apply the PISCES guidelines to the Celtic Sea*.
Workshop Objectives
By the end of the November 2011 workshop in Dorking, the aim was that marine users would:
1. Review and give feedback on the latest draft of the guidelines for implementing more sustainable management in the Celtic Sea*; this includes a review of the currently proposed tasks and actions and consideration of any further potential actions required.
2. Share and gain insights on voluntary measures in the Celtic Sea* and consider the opportunities for their wider application and implementation.
3. Identify their networks and relevant contacts who would undertake a review of the guidelines.
4. Confirm the guidelines structure and way forward for the guidelines development process.
Workshop attendees
The attendees were composed principally of Celtic Sea* marine users, who are drawn from a multinational (UK, Ireland, France and Spain) cross-sectoral group which includes interests from shipping, ports, commercial fishing, coastal tourism and recreation, mariculture, environmental statutory agencies, marine aggregates, renewable energy and undersea cables. PISCES operates a flexible stakeholder group (of around 25-30 people), acknowledging that effective stakeholder engagement needs to be dynamic and adaptive. Approximately half of these PISCES stakeholders that have been approached to participate in the PISCES project were able to attend the workshop, though not all sectors and countries were represented. PISCES continues to seek the involvement of marine users and other stakeholders. The revised guidelines will be shared with those stakeholders who were unable to attend, to enable them to feed into the ongoing process of the development of guidelines.
Also attending the November 2011 workshop to provide input and support to the marine users’ discussions were a range of advisers. These included representatives from other marine projects and members of the PISCES Advisory Group .
Workshop outcomes
During the workshop, participants:
- Shared information and experience about a range of voluntary initiatives for improving sustainability, which are currently being conducted by marine users in the Celtic Sea*.
- Identified aspects of the current initiatives that could be replicated across or in collaboration with other sectors to increase their sustainable impact; to work towards ecosystem based management.
- Reviewed and commented on the new structure for the draft guidelines; and identified issues and solutions to enhance their further development.
- Identified and proposed the need for bespoke formats for the guidelines for the key target audiences.
- Agreed the next steps for further drafting and development of the guidelines.
- Gained knowledge on regional implementation as part of the Marine Strategy Framework Directive.
- Advised the PISCES project team how best to support the further involvement and outreach to wider stakeholders within their sectors.
- Undertook collaborative working with a range of other sectors and nationalities.
Next Steps
PISCES stakeholders, supported by the PISCES project team will be involved in the following key activities:
- Review and development of the guidelines text (as initiated at the November 2011 workshop).
- Sharing and seeking feedback on the developing guidelines with colleagues and contacts from within their sectors. This will involve 200 moderating stakeholders.
- Preparation for a fifth workshop, which is expected to focus on development of recommendations and finalising the guidelines, in April 2012.
* includes Western Channel