Invitation to attend the South marine plans

Options workshops

11th – 13th February 2015

Brighton, Southampton and Exmouth

Following the successful engagement and consultation on the South Vision and Objectives, the MMO is holding a series of workshops offering you the opportunity to influence the next stage of the planning process for the South Inshore and Offshore Marine Plan Areas: Options.

This work will directly influence plan options and policies and is a great opportunity to ensure the waters around the South coast are safe, clean and productive in years to come.

In February 2015, workshops will be held in Brighton, Southampton and Exmouth and we hope you can attend. Views of those who regularly use or enjoy our coast and seas are vitally important. Please note Southampton is now full but there are spaces available in Brighton and Exmouth.

Please click on your choice of location to book -

• Wednesday 11 February – Mercure Brighton Seafront Hotel- spaces available
• Thursday 12 February – Novotel, Southampton- NOW FULL
• Friday 13 February – Ocean Blue, Exmouth- spaces available

All sessions will run 10am until 3.30pm.

A buffet lunch will be provided and refreshments will be available throughout the day.

To register for a workshop please book via Eventbrite at the links above. Places are limited, so we politely request that each organisation send no more than one representative to each workshop. Booking will close on Friday 23rd January 2015.

Information on the Options process, and workshop logistics, will be sent out to participants prior to the first workshop.

If you are unable to participate in the workshops you can still have your say on Options. Details will be circulated to all stakeholders with an opportunity to send written comments direct to the MMO for a period of time alongside the workshops.

For further updates please check the Marine Development Blog.

Best wishes,

The Marine Planning Team
Her Majesty’s Government – Marine Management Organisation
Lancaster House,
Hampshire Court,
Newcastle upon Tyne

NE4 7YH.

Tel: 0191 376 2790

Web: www.gov.uk/mmo

Twitter: @the_MMO

Facebook: /MarineManagementOrganisation

Work in progress

SS114 Keriolet sidewinding winter 1983

Sketch for a planned painting sometime in the future.

Sky-high prices as poor weather deprives Newlyn of fish.

The market is almost in darkness this Monday morning...

as the buyers almost outnumber the number of boxes of fish...

with fish like hake and pollack making over £7 a  kilo the netter Britannia that landed more than happy with the prices for a single shot...

even the few boxes of small whiting made good money...

with all boats but the bigger netters tied up in port...

as winds up to Force 9 lash the Western Approaches and beyond.

Je suis Charlie from Cornwal

At the ready.

Twilight is waiting to have her new five bladed prop to be fitted...

a pair of the port's biggest crabbers wait for the off...

and the transport is at the ready for Monday morning's market fish.

Gales forecast and the Newlyn netters are bound away #EatMoreFish

First of the netters to get away this morning - dspite the poor forecast - the Ajax heads up the exit from Newlyn...

always a thoughtful moment for the skipper as the boat passes Through the Gaps and the trip begins in earnest...

the boys stow the fenders...

 and mooring ropes safely...

as the boat heads out into the Bay...

leaving the beamer fleet still tied up against the quay...

while the netters Ocean Pride and Silver Dawn race one another...

through the gaps...

and wind the power on...

a chance to make a quick call...

before settling down to the long steam ahead...

following close on the netter's heels the Ivan Ellen and IRB are...

out on an early exercise this morning...

making the most of the weather conditions

From gales in Cornwall to storms in Shetland

GUSTS WINDS - Windy says #Lerwick #Shetland just recorded a 95mph gust . . . . . . worse is still to come #Storm3 #ScotsStorm

— Windy Wilson (@WindyWilson88) January 10, 2015

The current weather systems courtesy of EarthNull show the main protagonist - an area of intense low pressure off the top of Scotland with the wind travelling in an anti-clockwise direction giving the hurricane force south westerly to westerly winds- while, unusually away to the west of the UK deep in the North Atlantic is a small(ish) area of high pressure - a bit of a renegade in meteorological terms as it is normally a huge area of high pressure that creates the 'North Atlantic blocking system' which forces successive lows coming across from the eastern seaboard of the US to travel north east across the ocean - giving the UK its familiar weather pattern of southwesterly - westerly winds that eventually go north west - only to start the cycle all over again as the next low hits arrives on our shores...

average wind speed from the weather buoy 64406 off the top of Scotland at 0700 today...

with the corresponding wave height data...

contrasted with the wind speed from the buoy at the Sevenstones off Land's End, Cornwall... 

looking ahead to the 14th when things don't look so good either!