127 areas to be proposed as English marine conservation zones

Sea users and interest groups decide list of areas that will protect rare and threatened marine wildlife and habitats
John Vidal The Guardian 8 Sep 11;

Much of the sea around the Isle of Wight and the Isles of Scilly , major estuaries and islets off the east coast, as well as reefs, trenches, sandbars and remote places seldom seen by humans, are included in a list of 127 sea areas that have been proposed as new nature reserves.

The zones range from a giant 5,800 sq km (2,240 sq mile) patch on the edge of British territorial waters in the western Channel to a minute 0.09 sq km speck of rock off Dorset, from the sea floor below some of the busiest shipping lanes in the world in the Channel to the muddy waters off the northern Irish coast where Dublin Bay prawn thrives.

The total area expected to be named as new nationally important marine conservation zones (MCZs) is more than 37,000 sq km – about twice the size of Wales. Nearly half the sites are off the south-west coast and in the Channel. Wales and Scotland are expected to designate other marine conservation areas later this year.

"Together they will conserve a mixture of wildlife, habitats, geology and geomorphology," said a spokeswoman for the MCZ project.

"They are being recommended not just to conserve the rare and threatened, but the range of marine wildlife – from seahorses to sunset cup corals, and from honeycomb worm reefs to estuarine rocky habitats in English waters."

The project has conducted more than 2,500 interviews and held 155 meetings in what has been called a "people to parliament" approach to decision-making.

Conservationists today welcomed the list as one of Britain's most significant natural protection initiatives in decades, but said that the level of safeguards proposed for the nationally important sites varied from tight to potentially weak. Decisions about how the sites are managed, and what activities can or cannot take place in them, will only be made once formal designation is confirmed next year.

However, only 20 of the 127 sites are proposed to be highly protected "reference" sites where any exploitation or damage by industry will be banned. Nearly half the sites are expected to contain highly protected areas within them, while the oil and gas, wind and dredging industries will be allowed some access in some areas. Only 2% of the sites are expected to be given full protection.

In what has been described as "robust" arguments, industry objected to some areas and conservationists had to compromise to arrive at the final list.

"Sites we were sorry to see dropped due to industry concerns include Flamborough-Helgoland, the north Norfolk chalk reefs and the Farne Islands," said the Marine Conservation Society (MCS), one of the many organisations that helped to determine the sites.

But other landmark places proposed by ecologists were chosen, including the Needles off the Isle of Wight and the Manacles rocks off Cornwall.

"Protected sites are desperately needed to protect our seas so that marine habitats and ecosystems can begin to recover from decades of degradation," said Richard Harrington of the MCS.

"Conservation for the UK's marine environment has taken a major step forward. The thousands of species of sealife and habitats that live hidden under our waters need just as much protection as those that we can see on land," said marine minister Richard Benyon.

The unique process of allowing sea users to choose the sites rather than government took nearly two years, but is expected to avoid arguments and disputes later.

Unlike proposals for forests and planning areas, which were decided by government ministers without proper consultation, the 127 sites were only recommended following long negotiations between dozens of sea users and interest groups - including the oil and gas, wind and fishing industries, eco-tourism and conservation groups, ports and shippers.

"It has been challenging. Over 2,500 interviews have been conducted and 155 meetings held. Over 1 million individuals' interests have been represented, and it has enabled marine industries such as fishing, ports and offshore renewable energy to share their views alongside conservationists, landowners and recreational sea users," said the MCZ spokeswoman.

Marine protection bids unveiled
Richard Black BBC News 8 Sep 11;

Protection for key nature sites in UK seas has come a step closer with the unveiling of proposals to create over 100 Marine Conservation Zones (MCZs).

The zones range from tiny stretches of coastline to large tracts of sea floor.

The proposals stem from the 2009 UK Marine Bill and cover seas abutting the English coast and waters around Wales more than 12 miles from the coast.

They will be assessed by an expert panel before the government makes its final decision, probably next year.

The panel will also have to finalise levels of protection in each zone, as the Marine Bill allows regulators a lot of flexibility in what to prohibit (such as fishing) for which periods of the year.

If all proposals are approved, just over a quarter of English waters would end up under some kind of protection. Currently, the total is way under 1%.

But the zones are also supposed to be designed in such a way as to leave room for other activities such as industries and recreation.

"Today has seen our ambition to put in place special protection areas for marine life off the coast of England take a significant step forward," said Environment Minister Richard Benyon.

"The thousands of species of sealife and habitats that live hidden under our waters need just as much protection as those that we can see on land."

Scotland's Marine Bill passed only last year, so Scottish bids for protected areas are a little behind, but are expected to materialise next year. The Northern Ireland assembly has still to legislate.

'Coherent' aim

The ultimate aim is to create an "ecologically coherent" network of protected areas around all UK coasts, safeguarding important natural habitats while allowing other activities such as recreational angling, commercial fishing, surfing and marine energy to go ahead.

Four different groups were formed to develop the portfolio of proposals in different parts of England and Wales.

They have brought together stakeholders that - at least in principle - cover all parties with an interest in the seas.

The group covering south-west England, for example, numbered representatives of the minerals industry, renewable electricity companies, charter boat skippers, scuba divers and the Ministry of Defence among a set of 41 stakeholders consulted.

The hope is that with a lot of the consultation already undertaken, the proposals should chart a relatively straightforward course through the approval process.

"We will scrutinise the recommendations carefully," vowed Peter Ryder, chairman of the Marine Protected Area Science Advisory Panel that will now assess the bids.

"And in October (we) will provide our scientific assessment on the extent to which the resulting composite network of MCZs and existing Marine Protected Areas is likely to achieve the goal of ecological coherence."

Among the sites proposed for protection are:

Chesil Beach, Dorset's remarkable stretch of shingle
Land's End
the Silver Pit, a relic of an ancient sub-glacial valley in the seabed off the Yorkshire coast
the Donna Nook seal colony in Lincolnshire
tracts covering thousands of square kilometres of seabed off the Cornish coast

The government and its advisors hope that in part, the protection measures will benefit industries such as tourism and fishing, by securing features that divers like to visit and by providing secure "nurseries" for juvenile fish.

"All MCZs should be fully protected from damaging activities and bottom-towed fishing gears, and our work has shown overwhelming public support for this stance," commented Melissa Moore, senior policy officer with the Marine Conservation Society (MCS).

"Fully protected sites have been shown to yield a fourfold increase in the weight of marine species, whilst species diversity increases by 20%."

While some proposed areas have already been struck off the list by industry concerns, she said, conservationists welcomed the proposals that "are desperately needed so that marine habitats and ecosystems can begin to recover from decades of degradation."