Marine Conservation Zones at risk

Big Society has spoken up for our seas - but will Government listen?

The wildlife in England’s seas is facing a serious threat, warns The Wildlife Trusts.

The long-awaited network of Marine Conservation Zones, promised by Government for 2012, is in danger, according to the conservation organisation, which has been instrumental in marine
campaigning and research. It is urging the public to write to Under-Secretary for Natural Environment and Fisheries, Richard Benyon MP, in support of Marine Conservation Zones.

After years of pressure from NGOs, and with huge public support, the Marine and Coastal Access Act of 2009 promised a coherent network of protection around the coast of England by 2012. Now 127 marine sites around England’s coast have been recommended by four regional stakeholder groups to become Marine Conservation Zones next year.

The recommendations are the result of two years of consultation with more than one million stakeholders involved including fishermen, conservationists and businesses. This has been the first ‘Big Society’ experiment where local stakeholders have decided together which areas of the sea should be protected.

There is concern that Government’s Statutory Nature Conservation Bodies (Natural England and the Joint Nature Conservation Committee) will recommend to Government that only a fraction of the 127 recommended sites are designated. This would result in a much smaller and less effective network of Marine Conservation Zones, leaving vulnerable and precious areas unprotected.

Joan Edwards, The Wildlife Trusts’ Head of Living Seas, said: “A huge amount of work has been done to get a broad agreement on this network of sites needed for the health and future productivity of our marine environment. Now, however, in the final stages the Government has lost its direction and is proposing to over-ride the recommendations of local stakeholders and cut the 127 sites down to an unrealistic 30 in contradiction with the aims of the new Marine and Coastal Access Act.

“With Wildlife Trusts all around the UK, we are lobbying hard for the successful completion of a process that will make the difference between the life or death of our seas. We need to demonstrate the weight of public support for Marine Conservation Zones to Government. This is a once in a lifetime chance. We can’t afford to let it slip away.”

The Wildlife Trusts is urging people to write to Richard Benyon and ask for Government to create the proposed network of 127 sites in England. It has produced some guidance on writing to the Minister, which can be found at www.wildlifetrusts.org/saveourmczs.

http://www.wildlifetrusts.org/news/2011/11/08/marine-conservation-zones-risk

Sponge new to science revealed

The sponge discovered during the 2011 Seaweed East survey has been revealed as new to science.

This summer a group of marine conservationists undertook a pioneering attempt to survey the North Sea coast of the UK. The team, with funding from partners including The Wildlife Trusts, took part in surveys from Essex to Northumberland.

The survey recorded 352 wildlife species on the expedition. 126 of those were seaweeds – many species were previously unrecorded in the region and one species which was unknown to science, the purple Hymedesmia sponge, has been added to the list of marine animals in our waters. This colourful creature is an encrusting sponge so adopts the shape of whatever it covers, typically flint cobbles. The find was confirmed by Dr Claire Goodwin of National Museums Northern Ireland, an expert in the field.

Kirsten Smith, Living Seas Manager for the North Sea Wildlife Trusts said:

“This survey has thrown up some important finds, including new exciting species. These results will help us to understand more about our marine environment and help us to identify key areas in need of protection.

“The purple Hymedesmia sponge was found within a draft Marine Conservation Zone off the Norfolk coast. We urge the Government to designate sites such as this during 2012 to ensure our marine wildlife is protected for future generations

“You can help protect marine wildlife within your local area by signing up to The Wildlife Trusts Petition Fish campaign online and showing support for the creation of nature reserves under the waves, safe havens for marine wildlife.”

More than 20 people took part in the trip and travelled from The Blackwater Estuary in Essex up to Seahouses in Northumberland via Orford Ness (Suffolk), Sheringham and Hunstanton (Norfolk), Gibraltar Point (Lincolnshire), Flamborough Head and Robin Hoods Bay (Yorkshire) and Seaham (Durham).

A full list of the data from the survey is available to download below.

Read on...

Marine protection bids unveiled

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."

By Richard Black Environment correspondent, BBC News
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-14823942