JERSEY may not hit its target of protecting 30% of the Island’s marine environment by 2030, the Environment Minister has admitted.
The pledge, known as “30×30”, 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.
Deputy Steve Luce’s admission in a Scrutiny panel hearing that Jersey might not achieve this goal comes 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”.
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.
While Deputy Luce admitted the “30×30” target might not be reached, he told the Environment, Housing, and Infrastructure Scrutiny Panel that the increase in marine protected areas from 6% to 23% under revised plans was “significant”.
He added that his focus was not solely on hitting the 30% mark, but also on ensuring that the protections implemented are meaningful and backed by data.
“We may not get to 30% by 2030, but that’s not my main focus,” he said. “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 at 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.”
Marine Resources data officer Samantha Blampied added: “We didn’t want to be including areas in a potential ‘30×30’ network that don’t have any benefits associated with it.”
Deputy 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.
The minister added: “Rather than doing everything all or everything in one hit immediately, we’ve tried to mix and match a bit too to help everybody, if you like.”
The Deputy also stressed that he was “not here to put fishermen out of business”, adding: “We’ve made concessions to ensure their livelihoods are less impacted on day one.”
“There are ways to get to 30 by 30, but we need to do it genuinely,” Deputy Luce concluded. “We are protecting these parts of our waters for the right reasons.”
