We Need Your Votes
At some point in our lives the sea has worked its magic on all of us, but the sea is not getting much in return. It is time to speak up for the protection of our seas.
What difference will your vote make?
As the UK charity for the protection of our seas, MCS is uniquely placed to ensure that your voice is heard. Together we can show how deeply people care about our seas, shores and wildlife. Every vote on this site is a vote for a safe and productive future for our seas. The more votes we get, the more powerful our voice will be.
Why now?
The success of our campaigns for UK and Scottish marine Bills means that the creation of a network of Marine Protected Areas in UK seas is now possible. There has never been a better time to safeguard our seas.
How will protected areas be chosen?
While different UK Governments are at different stages of the planning process - they are all working towards setting up a network of marine protected areas by 2012.
MCS is campaigning for these sites to be chosen based on the best scientific advice - to ensure that both important habitats and rare and vulnerable species are properly protected.
Where do you come in?
Sometimes there will be a choice between different sites that represent the same habitats or species. At this level we believe social and economic interests should be considered.
As an island nation, the welfare of our seas is important to us - over 600,000 people signed our petition for Marine Reserves - but there are very limited opportunities for people to have their say about places they want to protect.
Have your say about places you want to protect.
You can either nominate your own site for protection or vote for one or more of the 73 sites we are recommending.
MCS recommended sites: The 73 outstanding sites MCS is recommending were selected based on 25 years worth of data gathered by volunteer divers as part of the Seasearch project. The website offers visitors the option to explore these sites and vote for those that you feel deserve protection.
Nominate your own site: It will only take a few minutes to tell us about your favourite spot and help us in our campaign to ensure that the important and special places along our coast are properly protected.
