'Coasteering heartland' could see activity banned in some areas

Commercial coasteering trips could be banned in parts of "Wales' coasteering heartland" if they are found to have a negative impact on wildlife or the environment.

Pembrokeshire Coast National Park plans to introduce a licensing scheme in May to control the activity, after an increase in complaints and the number of providers.

Its chief executive Tegryn Jones told Newyddion S4C that previous voluntary codes had worked well but it wanted to be "fit for purpose for the future".

One coasteering provider said he supported delaying the scheme so different approaches could be trialled, while a wildlife supporter said some sites should remain "wild and remote".

Coasteering combines climbing and scrambling along rocky coastlines with swimming, and it developed in Pembrokeshire in the late 1980s.

The Welsh government's official tourism website, Visit Wales, promotes Pembrokeshire as "Wales' coasteering heartland".

And it describes the activity as an "all-in-one coastal adventure, treating the foreshore as nature's obstacle course".

There has been concern from some wildlife campaigners that the activity could disturb nesting birds, seals, and other wildlife at sensitive sites.

Campaign group Wild Justice won a judicial review last September to quash planning permission for a new adventure sports centre in Moylegrove, near Ceibwr Bay, over concern about potential wildlife disturbance in a protected site.

Twelve sites are currently used for coasteering in the Pembrokeshire Coast National Park, and the activity has previously been regulated through voluntary codes of behaviour.

In future, companies will have to pay £100 for a licence, although that cost is likely to increase.

Detailed environmental assessments are currently being prepared to determine whether the routes are suitable for coasteering.

Park authority boss Jones said the licensing scheme would bring coasteering in line with other commercial activities in the national park.

"If you want to film or sell ice cream, you have to have a licence, so what we're doing is bringing coasteering under the same system as we have for other commercial activity," he said.

And Jones said licensing would allow the park to take action "on the rare occurrences where companies don't meet the required standards from an environmental point of view".

On Anglesey, a seasonal exclusion zone has already been set up to prevent adventure sports at a protected site.

Local wildlife campaigner Dagmarr Moore, who said she felt Ceibwr was an inappropriate location for coasteering, "welcomed" the licensing scheme in principle but felt that Ceibwr "should be kept wild and remote".

She said she hoped that ecological assessments, carried out as part of the licensing scheme, would support that view.

"There are loads of suitable places with parking, public conveniences, and cafés where people might have a much better experience," she said.

Mark Hicks from Tenby Adventure has operated coasteering trips at Lydstep and Stackpole for about 10 years, and said coasteering was "by far the most popular activity" offered by his company particularly in the summer months.

"I feel a bit sad that something that was collaborative is being shut down and is going to be replaced, it seems, by something statutory, " he said.

"It was really successful. I don't think wildlife will be better off."

Hicks said he felt coasteering had a "positive effect" on wildlife in south Pembrokeshire, as people could experience the environment in a unique way.

And he said his company would often collect discarded fishing gear during trips. Last year, 136 items alone were picked up and "15 or 16 birds entangled in fishing gear" were rescued at Lydstep, he said.

Another provider, who did not want to be named, said he feared licensing could threaten the future of his business and called for further consultation before it is implemented.

The visitor economy in Pembrokeshire generates an estimated £639m a year, according to Visit Pembrokeshire.

Additional reporting by Nicholas Bourne