CAG provided facilitation support and our stakeholder engagement expertise in this two year project focusing on managing fishing activity in MPAs. The project brought together the fishing sector, regulators, NGOs, conservation bodies, scientific advisors and academic researchers to explore the challenges of managing sedimentary habitats in MPAs.

The project team consisted of JNCC (Joint Nature Conservation Committee) , Natural England, the National Federation of Fishermen’s Organisations, the Marine Management Organisation and Bangor University, with support from CAG Consultants . It was funded by the European and Maritime Fisheries Fund. CAG led the design and delivery of a series of workshops with stakeholders, in which potential governance frameworks and participatory processes were developed to integrate stakeholders within the management review process, seeking to build awareness and consensus. An ecological model was developed to predict ecological outcomes of different management scenarios. The project has also focused on how to overcome data limitations to achieve effective management.

A brief summary of the project can be viewed here. The toolkit and project materials can be accessed here.