Draft Marine and Coastal Restoration Plan - Theme 4: Supply chains and communities - Scottish Government consultations

Objectives

1. Support knowledge exchange, data sharing and best practice learning on active restoration, between projects and across the sector

Foster communities of practice, both through existing networks, like Coastal Communities Network and Local Coastal Partnerships, and new networks and platforms where helpful
Work with interested institutions to explore the potential for a biennial conference and other workshops or training events for practitioners and academia, with a focus on sharing practical learning
Use the one-stop-shop noted in Theme 2 as a platform for knowledge exchange, case studies and data sharing (including citizen science)
Explore the potential for a prize for restoration innovation

2. Increase participation and engagement of other marine and coastal users in restoration

Encourage early engagement with other marine users in project development
Publish case-studies on how restoration activities can benefit multiple marine users and/or where cross-sectoral efforts have been successful
Promote the economic development potential of restoration as a sector

3. Support more resilient supply chains for restoration while maintaining high standards of biosecurity

Support new and existing enterprises aimed at developing supply chains
Update and expand guidance on supply chain best practice, for example biosecurity and genetic diversity

Objective 1 - Support knowledge exchange, data sharing and best practice learning on active restoration, between projects and across the sector

Restoration is a pioneering sector where new methods and approaches are constantly being developed and tried out. Sharing lessons learned from success as well as failures vital for the translation of science into practice and scaling up restoration.

Yet there is usually little capacity for individual, often volunteer-reliant, projects to organise sector-wide knowledge exchange activities on top of their restoration work. We think there is a role here for government and other public sector bodies to facilitate and offer support, for example in conjunction with the support post and one-stop-shop initiative highlighted in Theme 2.

We recognise the important work already done by established networks and partnerships that promote knowledge exchange. A key outcome for this theme will be to support, build on and expand communities of practice within restoration, rather than trying to reinvent the wheel.

This could include supporting spaces for sharing knowledge, such as conferences and workshops, and facilitating data sharing, e.g. from surveys, monitoring and citizen science, so that information can be exchanged more often, easily, and rapidly.

Objective 2 - Increase participation and engagement of other marine and coastal users in restoration

We are aware that ‘communities’ are not one group with a single voice, but are made up of complex and diverse groups of people and interest. Collaboration within the restoration sector is only part of the picture, and engagement with other marine users and wider communities of interest is also critical to successful environmental, social and economic outcomes.

At a minimum this should involve early and meaningful engagement with other users to ensure transparency, provide opportunities to identify shared goals and address potential complexities. It may also be possible to identify opportunities for wider sectors to become more actively involved in restoration. This could include contributing to activities such as monitoring or deployment of stock, or resource provision such as access to marine vessels.

Ecological benefits are sometimes presented as being at odds with economic development. However, this obscures the fact that scaling up restoration offers key opportunities for social and economic gains, such as

diversification of marine and coastal enterprises
overnight stays by educational and volunteering visitors
revenue for local hospitality
year-round and seasonal job opportunities
building skills (including for young people and students) and talent retention.

Objective 3 - Support more resilient supply chains while maintaining biosecurity

Stakeholders have raised concerns that bottlenecks in restoration supply chains pose a barrier to scaling up a range of marine and coastal restoration activities. This is particularly acute for the sourcing of seed oysters and sea grass rhizomes and seed. These constraints often limit the availability of key resources and can result in delays, especially as many restoration activities are bound by seasonality when suitable weather conditions prevail.

As part of the Argyll Rural Growth Deal Scottish and UK Government have made available £3.3 million for the development of a Centre for Seaweed and Shellfish Innovation and Development (C-SSIDER) at SAMS in Oban. This facility will foster collaboration between research and industry, including on marine ecological restoration with a focus on sea grass, native bivalves and kelp. The project will support research, innovation, training for the marine restoration sector.

We welcome the critical role that research institutions, private and third sector organisations and restoration projects are already playing in driving forward development in this space. We consider that we can best support this work through guidance and facilitation rather than by Scottish Government taking the lead on actions in this space.

Biosecurity and safeguarding genetic diversity are key considerations when developing restoration proposals and sourcing restoration materials. Biosecurity relates to preventing the introduction and spread of invasive non-native species as well viruses and parasites in the marine environment. The overall risk of negative impacts on the marine environment from restoration activities is generally low, but biosecurity is a critical aspect where unintended consequences can occur.

The restoration sector has pioneered many of the best practices around biosecurity, particularly for native oyster restoration. There are many useful guides online, including some international sources:

We will ensure guidance and information like this is easily available on the one-stop-shop and that continuing to share best practice will be included in knowledge exchange activities set out under Objective 1 in this theme.