Tolcarne beach © Cornwall Wildlife Trust
Together, the Marine & Coastal Access Act, Marine (Scotland) Act and forthcoming legislation in Northern Ireland could pave the way for Living Seas and revolutionise the way we manage them. But we cannot yet assume that the new laws will achieve everything needed.
Despite being two-thirds of the way there, we are still in the process of seeing additional documents, plans, guidance notes and secondary legislation that will spell out the detail of how the Acts are to be put into force.
It is vitally important that we influence those documents too.
It is unlikely the Marine Acts will get everything right first time. There may turn out to be gaps in coverage, loopholes or other problems that undermine or complicate its progress. New European and international laws and agreements could require the UK to go further than the Acts allow.
In order to identify new needs and opportunities, we must monitor closely the implementation of the Acts and their impacts on the health of UK seas.