Are our seas protected?
The stark truth is that only three tiny areas of UK sea, which together amount to about five square kilometres, are completely protected from damaging activities like fishing, construction, dredging or oil and gas extraction. This means that less than 1% of our seas is fully protected.
These precious patches of protected seabed are at Lundy Island in Devon, in Lamlash Bay off the Isle of Arran in the Clyde and south of Flamborough Head in East Yorkshire. These are the only places in the whole of our UK seas where people can't take anything. Such places are often referred to as 'Highly Protected Marine Reserves' or even 'Highly Protected Marine Conservation Zones', but that's all a bit of a mouthful, so we simply call them Marine Reserves.
There are 148 other places* in the seas around the UK with some form of protection, and these are known as 'Marine Protected Areas'. Activities like fishing, dredging and construction can be allowed in these areas and should be carefully managed to make sure the seabed and the wonderful wildlife that depends on it is harmed as little as possible. There are some questions about whether Marine Protected Areas like this allow the sea to completely recover, which is why we think Marine Reserves are so important.
*Marine Protected Areas in the UK include three National Marine Nature Reserves (Lundy Island in Devon; Strangford Lough in Northern Ireland; and Skomer Island in Wales), 72 Special Areas of Conservation to protect marine wildlife and 73 Special Protection Areas to protect birds near the coast.
