Prospering in the storm: securing a better outlook
for UK marine industry
F
ew people had been expecting the economic tsunami
that began in 2007, when
the financial system underpinning the global economy began
to cough and splutter. Within a
year, the paradigm of a low inflation, low unemployment and
easy credit world had all but disappeared. It left businesses struggling to survive and presented
hard choices for the debt-laden
public sector.
Before this new reality had
even begun to sink in, the state
of the marine science was being
investigated through the magnifying glass of the House of
Commons Inquiry on Investigating the Oceans. The inquiry
provided an opportunity to air
the views of public and private
sector users and suppliers of
marine science, and to plot a
course for better coordination
of public sector science in the
future. This eventually emerged
as the Marine Science Co-ordination Committee (MSCC) and
the 2010 UK Marine Science
Strategy. The MSCC is not as
strong as the agency that the
inquiry had proposed, but nevertheless it has helped to consolidate and defend the sector
during the inevitable rounds
of cuts.
Consolidation by itself, however, was not enough to enable
the research sector to adapt to
the huge opportunities that
began to arise from the ‘blue
agenda’, most of which was not
an agenda at all but a Klondikelike rapid pursuit of opportunities to develop the marine and
maritime economy.
In some ways, the UK was
as unprepared for this as we
were for the credit crunch. For
example, suddenly we discovered the need:
• to locate wind, wave and tide
devices in the sea for offshore
renewables without even having proper maps of the seabed
or knowledge of the consequences of changing habitats;
• to develop carbon capture
and storage without an understanding of what would happen if it all goes wrong;
• to develop aquaculture on an
unprecedented scale (including seaweed) without pilot
­trials;
• to open new shipping routes
while avoiding huge movements of alien species; and
• to somehow accommodate
these activities with sustainable
fishing, recreation, oil and gas
extraction and the many promised marine protected areas.
Solving these challenges is a massive undertaking and cannot be
achieved without an appropriate
knowledge base, some very smart
technology and marine spatial
planning that recognises the
inevitable trade-offs involved.
We have a new policy framework that should help facilitate
the planning thanks to the UK
Marine and Coastal Access Bill
2009, the Marine (Scotland) Act
2010 and the European Marine
Strategy Framework Directive.
However, how can we make real
progress towards well planned and
managed seas with a diminished
public purse? In my view, the
answer must involve the use of
smarter technology, more effective use of existing resources and
a compact between developers
and regulators to share the cost
of developing a more accessible
knowledge base. In the following
A Personal View...
doi:10.3723/ut.31.001 International Journal of the Society for Underwater Technology, Vol 31, No 1, pp 1–2, 2012
Laurence Mee, PhD FRSC
Prof Laurence Mee is the non-executive
member of the Marine Science Co-ordination
Committee (MSCC) who chairs the ­Marine
Industries Liaison Group (MILG). He is Director of the Scottish Association for Marine
Science (SAMS), Scotland’s longest established marine research institute, and is CEO
of SAMS Research Services Ltd (SRSL). He
has 37 years of experience in multidisciplinary international marine research, working
in the public and private sectors, and as a
senior UN official. He was the UK’s first Professor of Marine and Coastal Policy and
Special Advisor to the UK House of Commons Select Committee Inquiry on Investigating the Oceans and to the Scrutiny
Committee on the UK Marine Bill.
paragraphs I suggest the first
steps that need to be taken
towards a new approach.
Firstly, smart technology is
key. The UK does not even have
a joined-up monitoring system,
and its observatories and data
systems are not fit for purpose.
An integrated monitoring system, the UK Integrated Marine
Observing Network (UK-IMON),
is being developed and hopefully this will involve new technologies such as smart buoys, sea
gliders, fibre optic cables with
tethered observatories, remote
sensing and real-time modelling.
1
Mee. Prospering in the storm: securing a better outlook for UK marine industry
A comprehensive seabed mapping programme, the Marine
Environmental Mapping Programme (MAREMAP), is being
rolled out with support from the
Natural Environment Research
Council (NERC).
With regard to focused science, this does not mean ‘small
science’ but ‘relevant science’.
The marine science strategy was
a first attempt to indicate some
priorities, but it needs to be
reviewed at regular intervals.
There is evidence that it is leading to action however, and is
helping towards decisions on
the technical solutions that can
be applied to assist society on a
pathway to sustainability.
A good example of cross-­
sectoral co-operation is the recent
experiment on the potential consequences of a CO2 leak from
carbon capture and storage (CCS)
in Ardmucknish Bay. This experiment was conducted by Plymouth Marine Laboratory (PML),
Scottish Association for Marine
Science (SAMS) and British
Geological Survey (BGS), and
funded by NERC working with
the Crown Estate. This involved
a panoply of techniques including the use of smart instruments,
scientific diving and controlled
lab experiments.
The third condition identified
earlier – the private-public sector
‘compact’ – is one of the most
complex but important steps. We
have contributed to this by establishing the Marine Industries
Liaison Group (MILG), which is
closely associated with the MSCC.
The MILG has attendees from
18 marine industry sectors, and
2
its inaugural meeting took place
in December 2010. It has a wide
remit that could be summarised
as seeking a convergence between
the public and private sector on
the need and opportunities for
marine science.
During its first meeting, I was
asked, “How will we know
whether or not the group is a
success?” The answer was simple.
Most of the participants come
from the private sector at their
own expense. If this proved to be
a worthless talking shop, they
would simply vote with their feet.
Almost two years on, the group
decided to increase the frequency
of its meetings.
What are the key challenges
for government working with
industry? This is not an easy
question to answer, but I can
give some practical examples.
The first is about giving support
to smaller scale marine industry, both manufacturing and
services.
Some years ago, the watchword was ‘spin-outs’, and public
sector money was used to help
institutions, such as universities, to move ideas from the
­laboratory bench to the marketplace through the creation of
small enterprises. Though useful, this was often naïve, as ‘one
product’ companies frequently
fizzle. In the process, they undermine existing companies struggling to finance R&D and access
or maintain their place in the
market.
Ironically, many great ideas
were eventually licensed to foreign companies, while a number
of UK small to medium sized
enterprises were (and continue)
having difficulties getting their
products to international markets.
Consequently, impressive pavilions for foreign countries can
be seen at marine and maritime trade shows, but often
smaller UK enterprises are left to
flounder alone. This could be
changed through private-public
sector compacts.
Another example is at the private sector end of the scale. We
would like to see a vibrant private sector that makes optimum
use of the potential opportunities
provided by the sea, obviously
without harming the resource.
However, many sectors operate
in silos and find themselves inadvertently competing for space
and information, whereas cooperation could help maximise
everyone’s benefits.
At this end of the scale, the
challenge is to build trust and a
common knowledge base. Some
public and private bodies are
­sitting on large amounts of data,
for example, and can share this
for the common good, while
reducing their own costs in the
process.
The MILG operates at both
ends of the spectrum by working
with the government and industry to share knowhow, make best
use of existing opportunities (as
there is no need to reinvent the
wheel) and to look at future
trends. The process is still at a
relatively early stage, but it is
helping to open new cooperation to keep Britain as a powerful
driver of innovative and responsible marine and maritime enterprise, at home and abroad.