Ballerina Darcey names new liner - 10/4/10
A new £380m cruise ship has been named by ballerina Darcey Bussell ahead of its maiden cruise on 12 April.
To celebrate Azura's entry into service P&O held a naming ceremony on 10 April in Southampton which included a fireworks display. The new liner is berthed at the Ocean Terminal in the city's Eastern Docks.
The Azura, which can carry more than 3,000 passengers and crew, leaves on its first cruise to the Mediterranean on 12 April.
Posted 11/04/2010 18:25
MMO Vested - 1/4/10
The Marine Management Organisation (MMO) was established at midnight on 1 April.
The new executive non-departmental public body has been created under the Marine and Coastal Access Act 2009, bringing together key marine decision-making powers and delivery mechanisms to provide an integrated method of planning, regulating and licensing activity in the marine area.
The MMO has incorporated the work of the Marine and Fisheries Agency (MFA) and has acquired several important new roles, principally marine-related powers and specific functions previously associated with the Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) and the Department for Transport (DfT).
Posted 01/04/2010 12:16
Defra Coastal Change Policy 30/3/10
Further to last summer's Coastal Change Policy consultation that ran from 15th June to 25th September, Defra have published a report summarising the 107 consultation responses received. It has also published Adapting to Coastal Change: Developing a Policy Framework which takes forward some of the ideas on supporting community adaptation to coastal change that was consulted on last summer.
Posted 30/03/2010 14:02
Lottery cash for Southampton's Titanic museum - 29/3/10
A new maritime museum in Southampton has moved a step closer after the plan was awarded a £4.6m lottery grant.
The heritage museum, which will house a Titanic collection, is due to open in 2012 for the 100th anniversary of the liner's ill-fated voyage from the city.
Southampton city council said money would also come from selling land and partnerships.
A Grade II listed disused magistrates' court will be transformed into the Southampton Sea City Museum under the proposals.
Posted 29/03/2010 11:16
ABPmer launches new assessment tool – AutoCRAT - 26/3/10
ABPmer has launched a new assessment tool – AutoCRAT - to assist marine renewable energy developers to assess underwater collision risk for marine mammals, birds and fish.
Marine renewable energy devices such as tidal stream and wave energy converters have the potential to make a significant contribution to energy supply, energy security and climate change mitigation in the medium to long-term. In taking forward the planning and deployment of commercial scale arrays, it is important that the environmental risks associated with such devices are adequately characterised and understood. A key concern of regulators relates to the potential risks arising from underwater collisions between marine mammals, birds and fish and the devices, particularly tidal stream devices with rotating blades.
Existing evidence points to a theoretical risk of physiological damage for larger marine organisms, depending on blade speed at the point of collision. More general assessments of encounter rates between marine mammals and devices have also identified that a significant proportion of the population may be exposed to such risks.
To support the assessment of these risks, ABPmer has developed a collision risk assessment tool – AutoCRAT – which provides a structured framework for assessing risks from different types of device in specific locations. The tool takes account of:
*Specific device characteristics;
*Physical aspects of the deployment location;
*Available information on the distribution, abundance, movements and behaviour of marine mammals, birds and fish and their relative avoidance and evasion capacities.
Posted 27/03/2010 19:10
MCS Big Beachwatch 2009 Results - 26/3/10
Litter on our beaches is still unacceptably high, with more plastic
rubbish washed up than ever before. Those are the findings from
the Marine Conservation Society's (MCS) Beachwatch Big Weekend 2009
report. It also reveals that while total litter has increased by 77%
since the first Beachwatch in 1994, plastic litter has increased by 121%.
MCS has campaigned for UK and devolved governments to act to stop the growing marine litter problem. The UK and Scottish Governments as well as the main UK political parties have all committed to reducing marine rubbish.
As part of their commitment the UK Government has signalled their
intention to hold a round table with Defra and other interested stakeholders in the Autumn to start discussions about tackling the
problem of marine litter.
MCS is continuing to gather public support on this issue and is running
a petition calling for a marine litter action plan to be published by
December 2011.
Posted 26/03/2010 09:56
New support for seaside success - 25/3/10
A new strategy to help all seaside towns flourish by restoring iconic piers, creating new jobs, and improving local housing has been announced by Communities Secretary John Denham.
The Government wants to ensure coastal areas are best placed to take advantage of their natural resources and assets, historic infrastructure, and high quality of life, as well emerging green industries - to develop strong and successful local economies.
Strategy for Seaside Success; securing the future of seaside economies, includes a commitment to work with the Heritage Lottery Fund to find ways to further extend their work in restoring iconic piers, which are of critical public value; a new £5 million fund for 25 priority areas to create jobs, support business and improve skills of the long term unemployed; new licensing rules for councils over Houses in Multiple Occupation to tackle problems around low quality seaside housing; and a pledge to extend the SeaChange Programme, which has already pumped £38 million into improving seaside infrastructure in 32 areas, beyond 2011.
Posted 29/03/2010 10:39
New Fast Ferry for Portsmouth - 23/3/10
A new superfast ferry arrived in Portsmouth Port today. The Cap Finistere, a 2,000-passenger Brittany Ferries ship, will provide sailings to Spain in 24 hours - the fastest time yet for a Portsmouth service.
She will do two return crossings to the Spain every week, as well as three voyages to Cherbourg. She travels at 29 knots, over 30mph, making her the fastest non-catamaran ferry travelling from Portsmouth to the continent.
She is also 666ft long, the longest ferry operating out of Portsmouth.
The vessel has recently been purchased and repainted by Brittany, at a cost of around £78m, and is expected to run at about 1,000 passengers per sailing at peak.
Posted 23/03/2010 11:34
Transformation of Royal Pier - 17/3/10
Southampton City Council has begun the process of searching for a developer to transform the city’s Royal Pier area into a world class waterfront.
The council’s Cabinet has approved the first steps towards redeveloping one of the city’s most iconic landmarks.
This first big step is for the three main landowners, Southampton City Council, Associated British Ports and the Crown Estate to create a landowners agreement, which forms the basis for the parties working together to achieve the redevelopment.
Then the landowners will invite developers to put forward their ideas as to how the redevelopment might look. These ideas must include improving Mayflower Park to make the waterfront more accessible to the public and ensure that it is a high quality public place that residents and visitors can enjoy.
Posted 24/03/2010 11:43
