Will it be enough for some of the more exotic denizens of Britain’s coastal waters? Seahorses, stalked jellyfish and dolphins are among the creatures it is hoped will gain better protection from 23 new marine conservation zones.
The zones, which will be announced on Sunday on Sunday, stretch from the coast of Northumberland down to Land’s End and include Europe’s longest chalk reef off Cromer in Norfolk. They will bring the number of protected sites to 50, still far below the 127 proposed by an earlier £8m government consultation.
“As an island nation, the UK is surrounded by some of the richest and most diverse sea life in the world – from the bright pink sea-fan coral colonies off the south-west coast to the great chalk reef stretches in the east,” said the marine environment minister George Eustice.
“It’s vital we protect our marine environment to ensure our seas remain healthy, our fishing industry remains prosperous and future generations can enjoy our beautiful beaches, coastline and waters.”
Professor Callum Roberts of the University of York, who is a leading marine conservation expert, welcomed the new zones but said: “We need more because the network we have is far from complete. Despite the MCZs, the UK’s rich marine life has very little protection. That may sound paradoxical, but six years after the Marine Act and Coastal Access was passed, MCZs are still paper parks. “They have no management at all, so life within them remains unprotected. They will be worse than useless, giving the illusion of protection where none is present.”
The government said it was working to ensure management measures are put in place within two years, but Roberts said: “I am deeply sceptical of what it will achieve.” He said, for example, there are already moves to open up a special area of conservation in Cardigan Bay, off the Welsh coast, to scallop dredging: “It is one of the most destructive fishing methods in the world, turning habitats into rubble and leaving trails of dead and dying creatures in its wake.”
He said the conservation zones offer no real protection from the dredging and trawling that has devastated large areas of our seas for decades.
Roberts added that 65 “reference areas” of complete protection from fishing, proposed on top of the original 127 conservation zones, had been abandoned: “The one bit of the network that was really critical was dropped.”
Roberts led 86 marine scientists in condemning the government in 2013 for reneging on the recommended 127 conservation zones.
Among those newly created are Mount’s Bay in Cornwall, covering St Michael’s Mount and Marazion, where seagrass, stalked jellyfish and crayfish live, and Greater Haig Fras, 95km north-west of the Isles of Scilly, the only substantial area of rocky reef in the Celtic Sea.
Joan Edwards, head of living seas at The Wildlife Trusts, said: “We are pleased by this government’s commitment to addressing the decimation of our seabed over the past century. This second step towards the completion of a ‘blue belt’ in UK seas is crucial but there’s still work to be done.”
She said the 50 conservation zones must be properly managed and a third and final tranche of zones must be delivered. The government will open a consultation on further zones later this month.
Melissa Moore, the Marine Conservation Society’s head of policy, said: “We’re recommending that the final tranche in 2017 includes South Celtic Deep – a site that supports the short-beaked common dolphin; Norris to Ryde [off the Isle of Wight], which is rich in seagrass meadows; Mud Hole off the Cumbrian coast – 35 metres deep and home to rare sea pens; and Compass Rose off the Yorkshire coast, which is an important spawning and nursery ground for herring and lemon sole.”
The government is also set to consult on new special areas of conservation for harbour porpoise and special protection areas to protect feeding and bathing areas used by birds, such as spoonbills in Poole Harbour and puffins on the Northumberland coast.
Roberts said the low level of protection the government was giving to UK waters was in sharp contrast to its leadership on the international stage.
“The UK is giving full protection from fishing to huge areas of our overseas territories in the Atlantic [Ascension Island], Indian [Chagos archipelago] and Pacific Oceans [Pitcairn],” he said. “We urgently need the same high levels of protection in our home waters.”
Kerry McCarthy, Labour’s shadow environment secretary, said: “It is now six years since the last Labour government’s Marine and Coastal Access Act and during that time the government has delayed and prevaricated on delivering a much-needed ecologically coherent network of marine protected areas.”
