The attitude of the British Government to the depletion of commercial fishery stocks has yet to be matched by a corresponding concern for less marketable species of marine fauna and flora. Nevertheless, recent developments in executive policy have provided an opportunity for potential innovations in conservation law.

Following a report by the Natural Environment Research Council in 1973,1 a joint working party on marine wildlife conservation was established with the Nature Conservancy Council, in order to examine the impact of human activities upon the ecosystems of littoral and sublittoral regions. Their conclusions, which have lately been published,2 recommend that official consideration should be directed towards the possibility of declaring statutory nature reserves inside British territorial waters.3 At the same time, the legal and administrative implications of this proposal have been discussed by an inter-departmental committee of civil servants, under the chairmanship of the Department of the Environment.

The need for such measures results from the injurious effects of land reclamation, coastal and offshore structures, discharges of domestic and industrial effluent, dumping at sea, shipping accidents, mineral extraction, water sports and the exploitation of marine organisms.4 The objective of preserving representative examples of natural communities, and of facilitating scientific research, will require the creation of regulated areas extending for several miles along the coast and for varying distances offshore, within which harmful activities can be excluded or controlled.5 An appropriate method of designation would employ ministerial orders made by statutory instrument on the application of the Nature Conservancy Council; but this procedure presupposes the passage of an enabling Act, and current pressures on the parliamentary time-table indicate that the best chance of success may be found in the incorporation of relevant clauses into a forthcoming Wildlife and Countryside Bill.

One problem inherent in enabling legislation arises from the fact that it must be worded with sufficient generality to accommodate all conceivable situations, and may,