SCOTLAND has been given responsibility for all planning and nature conservation matters at sea up to 200 miles from the coast.
Up to now, the Scottish Government only had control to 12 nautical miles, with Westminster making most of the decisions further from the coast.
The change, which follows a campaign by The Scotsman, mean the Scottish Government will control issues
including offshore wind farms, conservation areas and new fish farms.
However, Westminster will retain its powers to grant licences to the oil and gas industries.
Richard Lochhead, the environment secretary, said the decision to increase the Scottish Government's powers would "help safeguard the seas for generations to come".
He added: "With Scottish waters being managed as a whole by the Scottish Government, we will now have modern and streamlined management of our seas and the many industries that depend on them."
He said he was delighted agreement had been reached with the UK on what they had "long seen as a sensible approach".
Ann McKechin, parliamentary under secretary of state at the Scotland Office, said the UK government had "taken the lead" in creating legislation that would bring a "much-needed simplicity to the management and preservation of our coastline and our seas."
She added: "We have given the Scottish Government the power to draw up detailed plans for the seas around the Scottish coastline between 12 and 200 nautical miles and, with our agreement, the plans will comprehensively cover all activities in the offshore area, whether reserved or devolved."
Environment groups welcomed the resolution of long-running discussions over where control should lie.
Lloyd Austin, head of conservation policy at RSPB Scotland, said: "This is an opportunity for the governments to stop talking about who does what and actually go on and do something."
He called for both governments to adopt a "truly visionary approach" to restore the seas in a sustainable way that enhances their wildlife.
Liberal Democrat fisheries spokesman Liam McArthur added: "Liberal Democrats welcome today's announcement as confirmation that SNP and UK cabinet ministers have stopped using this issue as a political football.
"This is a sensible arrangement that paves the way for marine nature conservation and fisheries management to be properly aligned."
Bertie Armstrong, chief executive of the Scottish Fishermen's Federation, supported the move to give Scotland power over marine nature conservation, to tie in with the control it already had over fisheries management out to 200 nautical miles.
"We strongly support this because dealing with the two issues separately was disjointed," he said.
Jason Ormiston, the chief executive of Scottish Renewables, said: "These new powers for the Scottish Government bring a consistent and common sense approach to planning most activities in Scottish waters and will hopefully bring clarity and predictability for renewable energy developments."
The details of the extent of the devolved powers will become clear when the Scottish Marine Bill goes before parliament in the spring.
Joint action created new Scottish powersTHE decision to grant increased powers to Scotland for control of its seas is being seen as a rare example of Westminster and Holyrood working together.
The decisions were agreed through the Joint Ministerial Committee, that exists to resolve issues between the devolved administrations and the UK government. This is being seen as the first significant success of the committee. The decision follows weeks of talks behind closed doors, with one insider saying he was "stunned" Westminster had agreed to grant Scotland such extensive control.
Paul Murphy, responsible for Joint Ministerial Committee issues within the UK government, said it shows the JMC can be successful.
"The willingness of colleagues in the JMC to agree to work together for the good of the UK as a whole demonstrates real commitment and also shows that good work can be achieved through the vehicle of the Joint Ministerial Committee."
Ocean campaign is a successTHE Scotsman launched a campaign to protect our marine life called Save Our Seas.
A key demand in the campaign was for Scotland to be given control of conservation to the 200-nautical-mile boundary with international waters. The campaign has attracted support from thousands of readers.
Plans within the Scottish Marine Bill are widely expected to meet many of the demands of the Save Our Seas campaign.
We also call for:
• A network of marine reserves and protected areas to be created to safeguard sites properly.
• A system of marine planning, effectively zoning areas for appropriate use, to safeguard important fishing grounds from offshore wind farms and other projects.
• A single organisation to administer this system.
The full article contains 773 words and appears in The Scotsman newspaper.
