Charting a clear course: Reforming U.K. marine governance for a sustainable future
In recent weeks, the state of England’s waterways has dominated British media, thanks to the release of the Final Report from the Independent Water Commission, chaired by Sir Jon Cunliffe. This report calls for a fundamental overhaul of the governance of England’s water sector, including the creation of a unified “Integrated Regulator” for water.
However, the declining health of the U.K.’s marine and coastal waters has received less attention.
The news that Good Environmental Status (GES) has not been achieved in seven out of 15 marine target areas has intensified calls for governance and policy reform to ensure adequate protection of the marine environment.
With calls also mounting to extend the Planning and Infrastructure Bill to the Exclusive Economic Zone, the pressure for a more integrated, forward-thinking reform of the nation’s marine governance framework is growing. The argument is that, without effective reform, the U.K. risks squandering both the economic potential and the ecological integrity of its marine natural capital.
Reforming U.K. marine governance
In June 2025, the House of Commons Environmental Audit Committee released its report, Governing the Marine Environment. This highlighted the urgent need for reform to safeguard the marine environment from increasing ecological and economic pressures.
As marine activities have expanded, the current patchwork of institutions and policies has become outdated and insufficient and struggles to resolve conflicts and trade-offs between different sectors.
Among its 16 recommendations, the report calls for coordination of marine management to be strengthened by appointment of a single lead department to unify marine policy, and an update to the U.K.’s marine policy framework.
Responsibility for management of the U.K.’s marine environment is currently divided thematically or by sector, rather than coordinated through a unified, strategic delivery structure. The Marine Management Organisation (MMO), created in 2009, serves a central role in managing marine activities in England. It consolidates functions—such as marine planning, licensing, enforcement, and conservation—into a single body, but it is not responsible for policy setting. Other agencies, each with their own mandates, also manage the marine environment and maritime industries. This leads to gaps in oversight, duplicated effort, and confusion about accountability.
The Committee argues that appointing a single lead department for marine governance and the coordination of marine policy would make it easier to balance competing interests (e.g., offshore wind development, commercial fisheries, and biodiversity conservation) in a fair and strategic way.
There is no single, unified U.K. policy framework dedicated solely to integrated ocean management.
The UK Marine Policy Statement (MPS) was last substantively updated in 2011. Since then, conditions affecting marine planning have changed significantly, including sea temperature rise, increased ocean acidity, rapid expansion of offshore renewable energy, and continued biodiversity decline. The absence of an updated policy framework creates challenges for ensuring that ocean planning decisions consistently account for these broader, cross-sectoral impacts
A unified approach to U.K. marine management
The Environmental Audit Committee believes that better coordination in marine management, and updating the Marine Policy Statement, will help the government create a clear and sustainable marine policy. Other researchers and stakeholders have echoed this view, pointing to the need for a more integrated approach.
Updating and strengthening the overall policy framework for governing the U.K.'s coasts and seas would provide much-needed strategic direction. Without such reform, it will be difficult to resolve the increasing number of value-driven and spatial conflicts between competing interests.
The challenge now lies in developing the political will to improve the process of planning for and implementing integrated ocean governance. The ocean does not wait for policy alignment. It responds to action—or inaction. The time to act is now.
ICF is actively working on marine governance issues from improving marine licensing to evaluating the effectiveness of marine protected area programmes. By understanding the values stakeholders place on marine resources and the livelihoods they support, we are well equipped to advise on, support, and evaluate policy and institutional change.