A NEED to protect marine biology was emphasised by the Bishop of Norwich, the Rt Revd Graham Usher, in the House of Lords last week.
“The world’s oceans support biodiversity, regulate climate, store carbon, sustain global food webs, and provide critical genetic and biological resources,” he said. “Protecting them is vital not only for ocean health, but for the stability and well-being of the entire planet.”
Bishop Usher, the C of E lead bishop on the environment, was speaking during the Second Reading of the Biodiversity Beyond National Jurisdiction Bill. He used a number of religious illustrations in his speech, speaking of medieval manuscripts decorated with “doodles by monks and scholars”, drawings of “scary sea-monsters”, “the flood and Noah”, “Jonah in the belly of the whale”, St Paul and his shipwreck, and “the book of Revelation’s glassy sea”.
He continued: “Those wondrous works in the deep are under threat. We have lost respect for the high seas in favour of an exploitative attitude. Deep-sea mining, overfishing, pollution, ocean acidification, oil and gas extraction are all threats being faced. Our oceans provide diverse ecosystems, including hydrothermal vents and cold seeps, with many endemic species within a small area. Our oceans act as the largest carbon sinks on the planet, storing it in deep-sea sediments, reducing atmospheric carbon dioxide and slowing global warming.”
He was keen, he said, “to ensure that our own waters are conserved and well managed, particularly the biodiversity of our marine protected areas . . . the Government are right to bring forward the ratification of the High Seas Treaty, and I fully support them.”
The Energy Minister, Lord Whitehead, described the Bill as “a Bill of ambition and global significance”. He said: “It represents the culmination of nearly two decades of international negotiation and determined scientific advocacy. It concerns nothing less than the future of the two-thirds of the world’s oceans that lie beyond the jurisdiction of any single nation.”
The Earl of Courtown (Conservative) was supportive of the Bill, and said that the UK’s fishing industry was struggling. He asked what the Government might do to help the country’s domestic fishing fleet. He concluded: “Marine biodiversity matters, and it is right that we should play our part in protecting it.”
A former Environment Secretary, Baroness Coffey (Conservative), asked about the “Blue Belt” initiative, which works with UK Overseas Territories to protect and enhance their marine ecosystems and biodiversity. Baroness Jones of Moulescoomb (Green Party) was concerned about pollution and the rising demand for mining deep-sea minerals. “I would say that it does not go far enough to protect our ocean,” she said.
There was pressure to pass the Bill so that the UK could implement its obligations in the Agreement under the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea on the Conservation and Sustainable Use of Marine Biological Diversity of Areas beyond National Jurisdiction, Lord Whitehead said.
Responding for the Government, Baroness Chapman said: “This Bill is about implementing a treaty. . . Not everything that we may wish to do is in this implementing legislation, but it is still the right thing.”
The Bill will return to the Lords for Committee Stage this month.
