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Marine Protected Areas

The Marine Conservation Zone Project in England

The Marine Conservation Zone Project is a partnership project working to identify Marine Conservation Zones (MCZs). The Project is being delivered through four regional MCZ projects covering the south-west (Finding Sanctuary), Irish Sea (Irish Sea Conservation Zones), North Sea (Net Gain) and south-east (Balanced Seas).

The regional MCZ projects worked with representatives from a cross-section of sea users and interest groups including wildlife enthusiasts, industry, divers and fishermen. These representatives sat on regional stakeholder groups and were responsible for identifying MCZs and recommending them to the independent Science Advisory Panel, Natural England and The Joint Nature Conservation Committee (JNCC). The stakeholder recommendations were collated and submitted to Government at the end of September 2011.

Of the 28 sites MCS recommended in England, 18 have been included in the draft MCZ network, but only two of these sites, Mixon Hole and The Needles, are currently being considered a as a fully protected 'reference' sites. 9 sites are in other areas with some existing form of protection (i.e. Special Areas of Conservation) and 1 has not been included in the network (Bawden Rocks in North Cornwall) in any form. You can view the draft network in England at mczmapping.org by clicking on the 'view' tab and selecting all MCZs, Reference Areas and the co-location site on the menu. There is also plenty of information about the English MCZ Project on the Defra, Natural England and JNCC websites.

What's next?

Following a process of public consultation where some of the 127 may be lost, sites will be designated by the end of 2012. MCS will keep all the people who have voted on Your seas Your Voice informed about developments and encourage participation in this consultation. We are disappointed that we have so few excellent sites proposed as fully protected in England's waters, but that what comes of the stakeholder process, where we are a minority voice.

What are Marine Conservation Zones?

Marine Conservation Zones are a new type of Marine Protected Area (MPA) in English waters. MCZs will help protect nationally important marine wildlife, habitats, geology and geomorphology and to help ensure sustainability of marine resources in our seas. Sites will be selected in English inshore and offshore waters around England, and will protect the full range of marine wildlife. MCZs, together with other types of MPA, will make up an ecologically coherent network of Marine Protected Areas by 2012. MCZs will have a range of protection levels that reflect the degree to which a particular habitat or wider ecosystem needs to be safeguarded.

MCS and Marine Conservation Zones

MCS has been engaged with the MCZ Project from the beginning of the process in 2009 and had a spokesperson on each of the four regional stakeholder groups to represent your interests during negotiations. The 'Your Seas Your Voice' campaign offers the public the opportunity to voice their opinion. MCS has shared the information gathered through the 'Your Seas Your Voice' campaign with the Project to help develop ideas for Marine Conservation Zones. We have been assured that this information will be considered alongside relevant data brought to the table by representatives of other sea users and interest groups. The regional stakeholder groups had the responsibility for developing recommendations on the location of MCZs and their conservation objectives. Ecological requirements were the first consideration in the selection of MCZs, however when identifying sites, the regional stakeholder groups then minimised the impact to sea users by moving the boundaries of sites, where there are choices to be made about locations.

Which Areas Will Be Protected?

We don't yet know which areas will be protected, or what degree of protection they will receive, but 127 sites have been proposed in the draft MCZ network by the regional MCZ projects. We believe these should all go ahead to satisfy the minimum scientific requirement to build an ecologically coherent network of Marine Protected Areas.