- Important marine habitats will be protected as harmful
fishing activity proposed to be banned in more Marine Protected
Areas (MPAs);
- Consultation launched on new measures to manage bottom towed
gear in 13 MPAs, and a call for evidence to assess the impacts of
fishing across England’s MPA network;
- This is the latest stage in the MMO’s ambitious programme to
protect all English offshore MPAs from harmful fishing by 2024.
The latest stage of proposed measures to protect further valuable
marine habitats and manage harmful fishing activity in England’s
Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) are unveiled today (17 January
2023).
The Marine Management Organisation (MMO) is delivering an
ambitious programme to protect all 40 English offshore MPAs from
harmful fishing activity by 2024, with byelaws already in place
in key sites including Dogger Bank and The Canyons.
In the latest stage of the programme, the MMO has today launched
a consultation on a proposed byelaw to ban bottom-towed gear in
13 more MPAs to protect vital marine ecosystems - an area of over
4,000 km2. Combined with existing MMO byelaws, this will bring
the total area protected from bottom-towed gear by MMO byelaws to
almost 18,000 km2.
With 178 MPAs spanning 40% of England’s waters, these areas are
critical to protect rare and threatened habitats and species from
damage caused by human activities such as fishing.
Locations that would gain protection include Cape Bank, home to
ecologically important species such as pea urchins and a type of
starfish called a cushion star; Haig Fras, a site that supports a
variety of fauna ranging from jewel anemones and solitary corals;
and Goodwin Sands, home to rocky habitats that support species
such as pinks sea fans, cup corals and commercially important
shellfish and fish.
The consultation will run alongside a call for evidence to gather
views on the impacts of anchored nets and lines, bottom-towed
fishing gear and traps on valuable marine features such as reefs
and sandbanks across England’s MPA network.
Environment Secretary Thérèse Coffey said:
“The UK has a strong track record on marine protection and we
want more countries to step up and protect 30% of the world’s
ocean by 2030.
“Today’s plans will deliver more crucial safeguards for vital
biodiversity and help restore England’s marine ecosystems.
“We will listen carefully to the responses so that we can help
habitats and species recover whilst ensuring we have a
sustainable and successful fishing industry for years to come.”
Tom McCormack, Chief Executive Officer of MMO, said:
“Following completion of our call for evidence on the impacts of
bottom towed fishing in these 13 marine protected areas, we will
now launch a formal consultation on proposed byelaws for these
sites.
“We look forward to engaging with stakeholders and interested
parties on the byelaw proposals.”
Today’s announcement marks another step forward in the UK’s
commitment to protect at least 30% of the global ocean by 2030,
known as ‘30by30’. Our comprehensive network of 374 MPAs
protecting over 38% of UK waters will be a valuable contribution
to this global target.
It follows the Environment Secretary Thérèse Coffey attending the
UN Conference of Biological Diversity (CBD) COP15 in Montreal in
December last year where nations adopted the Kunming-Montreal
Global Biodiversity Framework including the global 30by30 target.
UK efforts, including as leader of the Global Ocean Alliance and
Ocean Co-chair of the High Ambition Coalition for Nature and
People, helped to secure agreement on this important global
target.
The UK has also committed to continue working through these
initiatives to support global implementation of the 30by30
target.
The formal consultation and the call for evidence will run from
17 January to 28 March 2023.
ENDS
Notes to
Editor:
- The consultation on the proposed MMO byelaw to manage bottom
towed gear across 13 MPAs will be available on GOV
UK. https://consult.defra.gov.uk/mmo/stage-2-formal-consultation/; https://consult.defra.gov.uk/mmo/stage-3-call-for-evidence/
- The offshore sites included in the consultation
are: Cape Bank; East of Haig
Fras; Farnes East; Foreland; Goodwin Sands; Haig Fras;
Haisborough, Hammond and Winterton; Hartland Point to Tintagel;
Land’s End and Cape Bank; North Norfolk Sandbanks and Saturn
Reef; Offshore Brighton; South of Celtic Deep; Wight-Barfleur
Reef.
-
The Call for Evidence focuses on
the interactions of anchored nets and lines, bottom towed gear
and traps on the following features:
- reef (including high/moderate energy circalittoral rock,
Annex I reef: biogenic and rocky)
- Annex I sandbanks and subtidal sediments (including subtidal
coarse sediment, subtidal sand, subtidal mixed sediments, and
subtidal mud)
- ocean quahog
- sea pen and burrowing megafauna communities
- fragile sponge and anthozoan communities
- pink sea fans
- fan mussel
