Marine Bulletin One: – A Coastal and Marine National Park for Scotland

By 2008 Scotland will have the UK’s first Coastal and Marine National Park (CMNP). It will be a multiple-use area in which conservation, sustainable fishing, aquaculture, forestry, recreation and tourism will be encouraged.

Argyll coast and islands, Lochaber and Skye, the Northwest Highland Coast, the Western Isles, Shetland, and the Solway, Clyde and Moray Firths have all been identified as possible sites, and communities and local authorities in these areas are deciding how to respond. Whichever area is finally chosen during 2006, LINK members believe a Park offers an opportunity to its coastal communities to shape their long-term future if it is welldesigned.