The marine habitats and wildlife off our shores are facing a serious threat, with the long-awaited network of marine protected areas, promised by Government for 2012, being in danger of failing before it has even got off the ground.
After years of pressure from NGOs, and with huge public support, the Marine and Coastal Access Act of 2009 promised a coherent network of protected areas – desparately needed to help our seas recover from years of neglect – around the coasts by 2012. Now 127 marine sites around England’s coast, including 30 in South East England and 7 around Hampshire and the Isle of Wight, have been recommended by sea users and stakeholders to become Marine Conservation Zones next year.
The recommendations are the result of two years of consultation, costing millions of pounds, with more than one million stakeholders involved including fishermen, conservationists and businesses. This has been the first ‘Big Society’ experiment where local stakeholders have decided together which areas of the sea should be protected, but will the Government listen to its own Big Society or retreat from its localism agenda and centralise decision making?
There is serious concern that Government’s Statutory Nature Conservation Bodies (Natural England and the Joint Nature Conservation Committee) will recommend to Government that only a fraction of the 127 recommended sites are designated. This could result in just a handful of scattered sites that would not fulfill the Government’s own guidance, which the stakeholders have worked so hard to adhere to, and leave vulnerable and precious areas unprotected.
Jolyon Chesworth, Marine Conservation Manager at Hampshire & Isle of Wight Wildlife Trust, says:
“A huge amount of work has been done to get a broad agreement on this network of sites needed for the health and future productivity of our marine environment. Now, however, in the final stages the Government has lost its direction and is proposing to over-ride the recommendations of local stakeholders and cut the 127 sites down to an unrealistic 30, in contradiction with the aims of the Marine and Coastal Access Act and the thousands of pages of its own guidance.”
Referring to what this may mean for our local seas, Jolyon continues, “Sea Users have worked tirelessly in the South East and around the Solent to understand the complex process and guidance required by the Government to come up with recommended Marine Conservation Zones that meet the criteria. The work has resulted in a very positive set of 30 recommended sites which have a lot of broad support. Seven of these sites are around Hants and Wight, including Bembridge, which has more examples of species and habitats than any other site in the South East, including rare seaweeds, spoonworms and seahorses, Utopia, home to sponge and coral gardens and northern areas of the Isle of Wight coast, home to the best examples of seagrass in the region.
To suggest that only 7 of the 30 sites in the South East may actually go ahead makes a mockery of the hard work of the local sea users, contradicts the official guidance and most importantly will not adequately protect the habitats and species that exist here.
With Wildlife Trusts all around the UK, we are lobbying hard for the successful completion of a process that will make a real difference to the conservation of our seas. We need to demonstrate the weight of public support for Marine Conservation Zones to Government. This is a once in a lifetime chance. We can’t afford to let it slip away.”
Hampshire & Isle of Wight Wildlife Trust is urging people to write to Richard Benyon and ask for Government to create the proposed network of 127 MCZs in England. It has produced some guidance on writing to the Minister, which can be found at www.wildlifetrusts.org/saveourmczs
Please sign our petition http://www.wildlifetrusts.org/petitionfish
Write to your MP and the Minister http://www.wildlifetrusts.org/saveourmczs
Debbie Tann 