Wales Coasts and Seas Partnership (CaSP Cymru): 5 October 2023

David Tudor - Cadeirydd PMaA Cymru / CaSP Cymru Chair
Julie James - Minister for Climate Change
Private Secretary to the Minister for Climate Change 
Becky Philips - Joint Nature Conservation Committee
Chloe Wenman - Marine Conservation Society
Ella Sutton - Natural Resources Wales
Kirsty Lindenbaum - Natural Resources Wales
Laura Parry - Wildlife Trusts Wales
Rhian Jardine - Natural Resources Wales
Emily Williams - Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB)
Jennifer Godwin - Seabed Users and Developers Group
Rhys Ambrose - European Subsea Cables Association
Noemi Donigiewicz - Seafish
Rachel Sharp - Wildlife Trusts Wales
Tom Hill - Marine Energy Wales
Karen Stothard - Head of Strategy, Marine and Biodiversity, WG
Elen King - Marine Planning Implementation Manager, WG
Alice Teague - Deputy Director, Marine and Biodiversity, WG
Caryn Le Roux - Head of Marine Resilience and Climate Change, WG
Samuel Dorrington - Apprentice, Marine Resilience and Climate Change, WG

Alys Morris - Severn Estuary Partnership (Cardiff University)
Gareth Cunningham - Wales Environment Link / Marine Conservation Society
Jonathan Monk - Milford Haven Port Authority
Jack O'Shea - Milford Haven Port Authority
Michel Regelous - Pembrokeshire Coast National Park Authority
Penny Nelson - WWF Cymru
Jetske Germing - Pembrokeshire Coastal Forum
Jon Parker - Aquaculture Industry Wales
Andrew Schofield - Evidence Platform Wales
Emma Harrison - The Crown Estate
Kam Tang - Swansea University / Coastal Alliance Wales
Anne Vincent - Environmental Governance Policy Manager, WG

The Chair, David Tudor, welcomed everyone and gave an overview of the day.  
Brief introductions were made.

David welcomed Minister Julie James, offering a brief Partnership progress overview from the Annual Highlight Report. The Minister acknowledged David as the new Chair, expressing gratitude for the group's alignment with the Team Wales approach. She supported CaSP's direction amid challenging Welsh Government budgets, stressing efficiency, and urging connection with the Under 2 coalition for responsible green investment. She emphasised the need to utilise the existing marine plan wisely while addressing calls for a new spatial plan cautiously due to resource constraints.

The Minister would like to complete the work on Marine Conservation Zones (MCZs) and called on CaSP to help deliver this while avoiding the troubles with the MCZ consultation ten years ago. 

She would like to see Environmental and Biodiversity targets in the same vein as the clean air targets and wants the work on the   regulations and shadow body to be done in parallel, rather than in sequence. To aid with this, the Minister needs as much consensus as possible from CaSP and the sector. She also acknowledged  the recent State of Nature Report. 

The Minister tasked the Chair with enhancing Equality, Diversity, and Inclusion in a predominantly white male sector, aiming for increased representation and routes into the sector, especially for underrepresented groups.

The following discussion included Rachel Sharp's (Wildlife Trusts Wales) call for Ministerial support in building a green finance team. Concerns about reaching the 30x30 target were raised, with the Minister emphasising the need for irreversible progress by 2030. Jennifer Godwin (Seabed User and Developer Group) stressed preserving the group's effective team. Gareth Cunningham (Blue Investment Working Group) proposed leveraging the education sector for awareness, echoed by Jetske Germing (Pembrokeshire Coastal Forum).

The Minister highlighted the Infrastructure Bill's development and urged CaSP and SUDG to provide evidence. Suggestions to involve the education sector and promote green networks were made. The Minister expressed a commitment to meeting the Children's Commissioner and inviting her to CaSP’s next meeting.

Concluding, the Minister expressed a desire to attend more meetings, acknowledging the positive constructive progress being made.

ACTION: Chair/Secretariat to make connection with Under 2 coalition to find out more about their green financing work.

ACTION: The Minister to invite the Children’s Commissioner to the next Wales Coasts and Seas Partnership Meeting.

A New/Revitalised Working Group

With regards to the concerns about the biodiversity targets and whether CaSP could create a subgroup to set out those targets, a suggestion was made regarding revitalising a ‘Marine Expert Group’ inputting into the Deep Dive for which NRW would provide the Secretariat.

ACTION: Chair/NRW to see if it will be possible to bring back the ‘Resilience’ subgroup to focus on the 30x30 targets and the Deep Dive. 

Spatial Planning approach

Alice conveyed that the 2019 Marine Plan will not be replanned at this time. However, efforts are ongoing to adopt a spatial approach and collaborate with Defra and the Crown Estate. Kirsty added that they are developing maps to establish a foundational information base and illustrate potential directions within the current plan.

Emily Williams (RSPB) expressed a belief in the use of regulation for driving future change, pledging support for the Minister in this endeavour. Noemi Donigiewicz emphasised the necessity of engaging coastal communities and traditional sea-dependent practitioners in future activities.

Rachel highlighted the equivalence of the nature crisis to the climate crisis, proposing similar budget allocations. However, current financial constraints limit this parity. She questioned how the Future Generations Act factors into budget decisions related to the nature crisis, suggesting the future use of the Education budget to fund the Ocean Literacy project as an example. 

Kirsty Lindenbaum (NRW) presented an update on the Working Group.  The presentation covered: 

• what the group has done so far
• developed a strategy with a vision and goals
• action areas
• the draft Ocean Literacy strategy 
• further engagement and communication
• resourcing the work

After the presentation Kirsty raised some discussion points around engagement on the draft strategy.

A platform

If there is funding for an OL platform (i.e. website) only, this needs to be linked back to CaSP and the rest of the Partnership somehow.

The feeling is it would be better to have a wider platform for CaSP, with Ocean Literacy and other activities linked from that. It needs to establish branding and hosting which reflects all Partners rather than WG and/or NRW. A possible model is the Wales Biodiversity Partnership platform, although recognising CaSP is not a biodiversity partnership. 

There are questions around long term funding and management of such a site, which will need resolving. Could the Marine Enhancement Fund support such a platform for the long term?

New Audiences

Linked to the EDI discussion, we need to find different ways of engaging, and look at what has been successful - for e.g. anti-racism plans, internships. Rachel pointed out that the sector has a problem in capacity where there aren’t the resources to help at a grass roots level. For example, funding could be obtained for paid internships to support those from impoverished backgrounds. However, they have no capacity to create the bids for funding.

The National Lottery Heritage Fund is keen for the sector to come forward with ideas – what practical and tangible actions could industry take forward in this space?

Rhys Ambrose (ESCA) mentioned their outreach and education programme but had difficulty in seeing the links to ‘ocean literacy.’  Jen Godwin (SUDG) was also willing to share information with their membership but felt it would be hard to explain the concept in more detail and asked for a slide to share.

Noemi Donigiewicz (Seafish) offered to take information to the Seafish training network. Seafish could also consider having a task and finish group to increase career prospects for BAME and EDI.

ACTION: Kirsty/Kath to provide a slide or other toolkit for use by Partners to raise profile of the OL strategy and action plan.

ACTION: Partners to raise CaSP, and specifically the OL strategy, at meetings they attend, either internal or external. 

ACTION: Partners to comment on draft OL strategy by the end of November. Kirsty to share link with WG to circulate.

ACTION: EDI actions to be picked up by CaSP Chair

Wales Resilient Ecosystems Enhancement Fund (WREEF)[1]

Gareth Cunningham gave an update on WREEF: Funding is being sought from NHLF to kickstart the Fund.  The next step now is to invite developers to an open conversation about the development of the Fund – what would they like to fund? The target value is to start with £1-5 million, with projects able to be funded over a 25 year lifespan, to get past the usual short term funding issues. A Steering Group is likely to be set up in January.  Membership of the SG won’t hamper applying for the fund, as the Fund Manager (WCVA) will manage conflicts of interest.

Jennifer Godwin welcomed the update but cautioned that the group needs to bring industry along with it and that perception is important. Any Marine Net Benefit type activities must be seen as a positive process. There are lots of other initiatives going on, and Case Studies are being pulled together. 

ACTION: Jen Godwin to share examples/case studies of investment funds/approaches.

[1] WREEF, the proposed marine enhancement fund for Wales, has since been renamed MArine Resilience and Improvement of Natural Ecosystems (MARINE) Fund Cymru 

David provided an update on Building Capacity work since coming into the role.  He had had a handover with Peter and is considering the key actions to take forward. 

Baseline evaluation update

Caryn has investigated commissioning a piece of work to establish baselines for the three themes, including repeating, or building on the previous Wales Coastal Directory as a governance/capacity baseline. However, capacity to manage such a project is a problem.  At present the intention is to use currently held data as a baseline for Ocean Literacy (the OL annual survey) and for Blue Investment (the Funding Database being created through the Blue Investment Working Group).  Further consideration needs to be given to commissioning the Building Capacity baseline (potentially the Coastal Directory Plus).  Tim Brew (PCF) and Alys Morris (SEP) had discussed this further.

ACTION: Caryn to continue to progress baselines, an item for the management group meeting to pick up when that is organised.                                       

National Framework for Coastal Co-ordination

In the last meeting there was discussion on whether CaSP could be the national body for coastal co-ordination, and the need to be better connected to the UK Coastal Partnerships Network (CPN) was highlighted. 

David has since met with the UK Coastal Partnerships Network contact.  CPN has also confirmed that they have received further funding to progress the national framework in the UK.  We will need to keep in touch with this work going forward.

New Welsh Partnerships/Fora were funded/piloted by the Coastal Capacity Building Challenge Fund in Glamorgan and the Menai Straits.  The need to maintain a strategic oversight of all the Partnerships and Fora should be considered going forward.  Is this a role for CaSP, the Funding Policy Advisory Group, or something else?  How will it fit with current governance structures and developing models and policy?

Coastal Capacity Building Fund

A brief update from WG was provided – the Fund window was open between 14 August and 22 September.  Projects are currently being assessed.

Building Capacity Working Group

David is considering the role of a Building Capacity Working Group.  A group had met previously with Peter but has had a hiatus due to the change in the Chair role.  There are now several standing items that a group could consider including the national framework, EDI, and training and skills, which has not been considered much yet. 

ACTION: Jon Parker (Aquaculture Industry Wales) to provide an update on the National Nature Service following the meeting.

ACTION: David/Secretariat to consider role and scope of a Building Capacity Working Group going forward. 

NRW shared an updates document and further updates were shared from partners.

ACTION: Noemi to provide details of the Fisheries Roadshows to circulate in the next newsletter for CaSP members to attend. 

Full Partnership Meetings 

• Dates for 2024:
  1. Thursday 22^nd February
  2. Thursday 13^th June

Working groups scheduled meetings:

• Blue Investment Working Group – Monthly on 2^nd Thursday of the month
• Ocean Literacy Working Group – 23^rd November, 18^th December
• Funding Policy Advisory Group – tbc

• Chair/Secretariat to make connection with Under 2 coalition to find out more about their green financing work.
• The Minister to invite the Children’s Commissioner to the next Wales Coasts and Seas Partnership Meeting.
• Chair/NRW to see if it will be possible to bring back the Resilience subgroup to focus on the 30x30 targets and the Deep Dive. 
• Kirsty/Kath to provide a slide or other toolkit for use by Partners to raise the profile of the OL strategy and action plan.
• Partners to raise CaSP, and specifically the OL strategy, at meetings they attend, either internal or external. 
• Partners to comment on draft OL strategy by the end of November. Kirsty to share link with WG to circulate.
• EDI actions to be picked up by CaSP Chair
• Jen Godwin to share examples/case studies of investment funds/approaches.
• Caryn to continue to progress project baselines, an item for the management group meeting when that is organised.
• Jon Parker (Aquaculture Industry Wales) to provide an update on the National Nature Service following the meeting.
• David/Secretariat to consider role and scope of a Building Capacity Working Group going forward. 
• Karen to share the presentation on the Nature Targets White Paper with a request for feedback to input to its development.
• Include Nature Targets in the potential ToR for the Resilience group and include regular updates in the newsletter and future CaSP meetings. 
• Karen to invite the SUDG to the Bill stakeholder group.
• Partners to provide feedback on the CaSP highlight report as soon as possible. 
• Noemi to provide details of the Fisheries Roadshows to circulate in the next newsletter for CaSP members to attend.