For Finding Sanctuary this group includes: aggregate dredging, wind and renewable energy farms, mariculture, oil and gas drilling, ports and shipping and submarine cables. These are all commercial uses which are well defined and mapped through licensing blocks and charted information. These stakeholders are more easily defined and most often represented by a relatively small number of companies.

Commercial interests are currently represented on the Finding Sanctuary Steering Group by The Crown Estate, Regen SW and Poole Harbour Commissioners. Together with our Steering Group, we are currently reviewing how other commercial interests can best engage with our project. One possible suggestion is to establish a National Stakeholder Group which would communicate with the regional Steering Groups of Finding Sanctuary and the three other regional projects in an advisory fashion. The National Stakeholder group could provide advice to Finding Sanctuary's Steering Group but designing the network of MPAs would remain the responsibility of the Steering Group.

Marine Aggregates Extraction

Twenty-one percent of building sand, gravel and rock now comes from the sea. There are currently 75 active licenses to extract marine aggregates, producing 24 million tonnes of material per annum. At the moment in the South West there is one Active Dredge Area in the Bristol Channel, North of Watchet in Somerset.

There are 10 aggregates companies currently operating within UK waters. These are represented by the British Marine Aggregates Producers Association (BMAPA).

It is important that Finding Sanctuary knows the location of current Active Dredge Areas and potential future licensing blocks. It is likely that aggregate dredging would conflict with the needs of most habitats and marine life. It is also important that we understand the likely future requirements of aggregate licensing so that we can build these into our decision making model.

As owners and licensers of the seabed, The Crown Estate grants licenses for marine aggregate extraction and is an important member of our Steering Group.

Offshore Renewables

There is significant potential for offshore wind and wave energy in South West waters. A Regen SW report "The Road to 2020" highlights the vital role that offshore renewables could play in helping the region to achieve its contribution to the UK target of 15% of all our energy from renewable energy by 2020. As part of the Government's strategy to achieve this target, a third leasing round for offshore wind energy has been announced. There are two proposed zones for potential development off the South West coast; one off North Devon and one off Swanage on the south coast. The region is also trying to accelerate the deployment of wave energy technologies through the Wave Hub. Ten miles off the coast of North Cornwall, the Wave Hub has been approved and is forecasted to generate power for 7,500 homes and create 170 jobs in the area.

Alongside the MPA network, offshore renewables is probably the biggest change of sea use in the South West. The requirements for offshore wind farms are also very specific. They generally need to be close to the shore to facilitate connection to the electricity grid but not too close to be sheltered from the prevailing winds. Currently there are also technical constraints on the depth of water in which it is feasible to erect turbines, limiting the potential areas of sea which could be used to generate energy.

Little research has been conducted on the effects of offshore renewables on marine habitats; they may provide protection for biodiversity or alternatively they may cause a change of habitat and disrupt ecosystems.?

As owners and licensers of the seabed, The Crown Estate is responsible for granting blocks of sea to be developed and is an important member of our Steering Group.

Ports and Shipping

There are 42 ports in the South West, which collectively handled over 20 million tonnes of freight in 2006. Sea freight has risen at a faster rate in our region than for the country as a whole. Plymouth and Poole ports primarily deal with roll-on roll-off traffic and provide important linkages to France, Spain and the Channel Islands. Fowey, Par, Teignmouth and Falmouth are also important regional ports for freight transport.?

With such a high commercial interest, Port Authorities in the region want to ensure that the MPA network does not constrain future business activities. Principal areas of interest include harbour maintenance by dredging and the licensed disposal of dredgings, future port development and construction as well as safety and access for short sea and international shipping.

Ports, harbours and shipping routes are all well charted and have been fed into our GIS planning tool and the WebGIS. The British Ports Association is represented on the Steering Group.

Mariculture

There are 30 shellfish farms in the South West and these are distributed between Dorset, Devon and Cornwall. Thirteen farms hold and produce mussels and pacific oysters in Devon. The nine farms located in Dorset produce a range of shellfish; manila clams, Palourdes clams, cockles, mussels and native and pacific oysters. In Cornwall there are eight farms which produce mussels, native oysters and pacific oysters.

In total the region produces about 2,600 tonnes of shellfish per year, mussels making up over 75% of this total. Some of the Cornish farms also produce seed for mussels and pacific oysters. This is a growing industry in the South West but faces several challenges mainly relating to the location of the farms as they require good water quality, shelter, optimal water flow and space. The location of shellfish farms will be incorporated into our GIS planning tool.

Submarine Cables

The South West of England is extremely important for international submarine cables. Ninety-eight percent of the UK's transatlantic internet traffic and 75% of UK's internet traffic with Europe goes through the region. Particular important shore landings are at Sennen Cove, Porthcurno and Bude in Cornwall.

The United Kingdom Cable Protection Committee brings together 16 of the main cable laying companies with a responsibility to ensure the continued protection of existing cables. They do this through working with stakeholder groups such as fishermen and shipping, and projects such as Finding Sanctuary. In terms of MPAs, their principal objective is to ensure that existing cables can be maintained and that MPA design does not make future cable routes impossible. Cable routes are well charted and have been incorporated into our GIS planning tool.