Recommendation 1

Whilst balancing economic and environmental demands is important, it is critical to ensure a balance between climate action and nature recovery, particularly in enabling offshore renewable energy developments to meet net zero targets without compromising marine biodiversity. Achieving sustainable marine governance that ensures marine protection requires effective, cross-government coordination. Marine governance is inherently complex. However, it is essential that the Government adopts a joined- up approach to marine decision-making, ensuring coherence across departments and policies to deliver meaningful outcomes for the marine environment. We are deeply concerned that contrary to this, responsibilities are blurred, resulting in poor coordination and a lack of accountability. (Conclusion, Paragraph 16)