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Marine and Coastal Access Bill [HL]

Perhaps the Minister can clarify the by-law question for me. Given what is contained in Clauses 125 and 126, do I take it that the by-laws would be brought into being only by the MMO? If not, who else would bring them in? It is clearly different from terrestrial zones where it might be brought in by other people. I accept the Minister’s argument that the Government are trying to get a balance within the Bill—that is extremely important—but a difficulty may sometimes arise where people should have known, but did not know, that they were committing an offence. That is a very fine point. In our earlier discussions, we were talking about foreign vessels coming into our zones. It will be quite a challenge to ensure that international shipping and the people who use our waters are aware of the by-laws—I remember we had a long discussion on buoys and markers—and I seek clarification on who is entitled to make the by-laws and on the way in which the Government anticipate getting that information out into the public domain. Sometimes offences are committed by people who have no understanding that they are committing them, and sometimes people deliberately and knowingly commit offences. A certain amount of flexibility to deal with such situations is sensible and I am happy with that, but I seek guidance on the by-law situation.