Dr Helen Phillips, Director of Environment Agency Wales, confirms: "Our coasts and seas are under pressure. Fish stocks are decreasing. The climate is warming up and marine ecosystems are changing in response".

Tomorrow (Wednesday), Dr Helen Phillips will be joined by Morgan Parry, Head of WWF Cymru, and Carwyn Jones AM, Minister for Environment, Planning and Countryside, at the National Assembly for Wales to formally launch our first Marine Strategy – ‘Cleaner Coasts, Healthier Seas: Working for a Better Marine Environment – Our strategy for 2005-2011’. The Marine Strategy sets out our agenda for action over the next five years.

We'll also be publishing a 'State of our Marine Environment of England & Wales' report which provides the scientific foundation for the Strategy and will guide our future work given the pressures on the marine environment.

Key findings of our State of the Marine Environment England & Wales report are:

80% of global marine pollution comes from the land and 1 in 4 coastal waters in England & Wales are at risk from diffuse pollution
About one third of all estuarine habitats in Britain have been lost to land reclamation since Roman times due to pressure from commercial development and human activities
No sites in Wales and few in England now fail water quality standards for dangerous substances
Over the past 40 years, warmer seas have forced some marine plants and animals to move North towards Scandinavia, roughly the length of Britain
The estimated costs of damage from coastal and river flooding are currently about £1 billion a year. The flooding of coastal areas could increase between 4 and 10 times as a result of climate change unless there is adequate future investment in flood risk management
North Sea oil and gas production is forecast to fall by about a third by 2010. New import facilities for liquid natural gas are planned at Milford Haven.
Dr Helen Philips continued: "To meet these challenges we need to strike a much better balance between the different uses of our coasts and seas to protect the marine environment.

"While we have seen improvements - such as the best results ever this year with all bathing waters in Wales meeting EU standards - our challenges are changing and much remains to be done.

"This is why we have produced our first Marine strategy. It sets out how the Environment Agency can play a leading role to protect the environment through our duties which span land and sea, and range from promoting recreation to managing flood risk and controlling pollution," she said.

Environment Agency Wales supports the Welsh Assembly Government in helping achieve their proposed 'aim' for the marine environment and supports their involvement with the Marine Bill, so we can replace today’s piecemeal approach to management of the seas and coast by introducing:

a system of marine spatial planning
clear, allocated responsibilities for managing and regulating activities in the marine environment
effective measurements to strengthen the links between the management of our coasts and seas
"However, we can’t do it alone. We can only protect our marine environment if we work together with Governments, other regulators and coastal communities to develop new ways of management", Dr Helen Phillips said.