Marine Conservation Zone

A Marine Conservation Zone (MCZ) is a type of marine nature reserve in UK waters. They are established under the Marine and Coastal Access Act (2009) and are areas designated with the aim to protect nationally important, rare or threatened habitats and species.[1][2] Approximately 20% of UK waters now have some protection although some conservation, fisherman and wildlife groups are concerned that there are no management plans for each zone.[3]

England

On 21 November 2013 the first twenty-seven Marine Conservation Zones were designated, followed by a further twenty-three on 17 January 2016. There are now fifty MCZs in English seas protecting an area of 7,886 sq mi (20,425 km2).[2]

2013 Marine Conservation Zones

  1. Aln Estuary
  2. Beachy Head West
  3. Blackwater, Crouch, Roach and Colne Estuaries
  4. The Canyons
  5. Chesil Beach and Stennis Ledges
  6. Cumbria Coast
  7. East of Haig Fras
  8. Folkestone Pomerania
  9. Fylde
  10. Isles of Scilly
  11. Kingmere
  12. Lundy
  13. The Manacles
  14. Medway Estuary
  15. North East of Farnes Deep
  16. Padstow Bay and Surrounds
  17. Pagham Harbour
  18. Poole Rocks
  19. Skerries Bank and Surrounds
  20. South Dorset
  21. South-West Deeps (West)
  22. Swallow Sand
  23. Tamar Estuary
  24. Thanet Coast
  25. Torbay
  26. Upper Fowey and Pont Pill
  27. Whitsand and Looe Bay

2016 Marine Conservation Zones

  1. Allonby Bay
  2. Bideford to Foreland Bay
  3. Coquet to St Mary's
  4. Cromer Shoal Chalk Beds
  5. Dover to Deal
  6. Dover to Folkestone
  7. Farnes East
  8. Fulmar
  9. Greater Haig Fras
  10. Hartland Point to Tintagel
  11. Holderness Inshore
  12. North-west of Jones Bank
  13. Land's End
  14. Mount's Bay
  15. The Needles
  16. Newquay and The Gannel
  17. Offshore Brighton
  18. Offshore Overfalls (south-east of the Isle of Wight)
  19. Runswick Bay
  20. Swale Estuary
  21. Utopia (south-west of Selsey Bill)
  22. Western Channel
  23. west of Walney co-location zone[3]

No Take Zones

Lundy Island includes a "no-take zone" of 3.3 sq mi (9 km2), which had been established prior to the designation of the MCZ in 2013.[4] There are only three no-take zones in the UK, covering 1.9 sq mi (5 km2), and there has been criticism of the MCZs for not providing such protection to a higher proportion of UK waters.[5]

Northern Ireland

Following the passing of the Marine Act (Northern Ireland) 2013 only Strangford Lough has been designated as a Marine Conservation Zone. Consultations for a further four proposed MCZs ends on 11 March 2016. [6]

Proposed Marine Conservation Zones

  1. Carlingford
  2. Outer Belfast Lough
  3. Rathlin
  4. Waterfoot

Scotland

In the summer of 2014 the Cabinet Secretary for Rural Affairs, Food and the Environment announced thirty new Marine Protecton Areas. Along with thirty Special Areas of Conservaton (SAC), forty-seven Special Protection Areas (SPA) and sixty-one Sites of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI), 20% of Scottish waters have differing levels of protection.[7]

Nature Conservation Marine Protected Areas

There are seventeen protected areas within Scotland's territorial waters (i.e. within 12 nautical miles (22 km))[8]

  1. Clyde Sea Sill
  2. East Caithness Cliffs
  3. Fetlar to Haroldswick
  4. Loch Creran
  5. Loch Sunart
  6. Loch Sunart to the Sound of Jura
  7. Loch Sween
  8. Lochs Duich, Long and Alsh
  9. Monarch Ilses
  10. Mousa to Boddam
  11. Noss Head
  12. Papa Westray
  13. Small Isles
  14. South Arran
  15. Upper Loch Fyne and Loch Goil
  16. Wester Ross
  17. Wyre and Rousay Sounds

A further thirteen protected areas are outside Scottish territorial waters[9]

  1. Central Fladen (CFL)
  2. East of Gannet and Montrose Fields (EGM)
  3. Faroe-Shetland Sponge Belt (FSS)
  4. Firth of Forth Banks Complex (FOF)
  5. Geikie Slide and Hebridean Slope (GSH)
  6. Hatton-Rockall Basin (HRB)
  7. North-east Faroe-Shetland Channel (NEF)
  8. North-west Orkney (NWO)
  9. Norwegian Boundary Sediment Plain (NSP)
  10. Rosemary Bank Seamount (RBS)
  11. The Barra Fan and The Hebrides Terrace Seamount (BHT)
  12. Turbot Bank (TBB)
  13. West Shetland Shelf (WSS)

Wales

Only the island of Skomer has been designated as a Marine Conservaton Zone. There are 128 marine protected areas in Welsh seas and Natural Resources Wales (Cyfoeth Naturiol Cymru) is consulting with the Welsh Government and the Joint Nature Conservation Committee (JNCC) to consider if anymore areas need protecting.[10]

References

  1. ↑ "Marine Conservation Zones". JNCC. Retrieved 11 April 2015.
  2. 1 2 "Marine conservation zone designations in England". GOV.UK. Retrieved 19 February 2016.
  3. 1 2 "Coastal zones: UK's protected 'blue belt' expanded". BBC News. Retrieved 18 January 2016.
  4. ↑ In 2003, the first statutory no-take zone for marine nature conservation in the UK was set up in the waters to the east of Lundy Island. It is illegal to remove sea life from the area in question.
  5. ↑ Monbiot, George. "The UK's marine reserves are nothing but paper parks". Retrieved 7 April 2015.
  6. ↑ "Marine conservation zones consultation". GOV.UK. Department of Environment Northern Ireland. Retrieved 19 February 2016.
  7. ↑ "Support for our seas". The Nature of Scotland (20): 10–15. 2014.
  8. ↑ "Nature Conservation Marine Protected Areas". Scottish Natural History. Dualchas Nàdair na h-Alba. Retrieved 19 February 2016.
  9. ↑ "Nature Conservation Marine Protected Areas (MPAs)". JNCC. Retrieved 19 February 2016.
  10. ↑ "Marine Conservation Zones in Wales". Natural Resources Wales. Retrieved 19 February 2016.
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