Kerry McCarthy (Bristol East) (Lab):...Monitoring and enforcement
are, of course, particularly important in our marine protected
areas. The UK has called for the protection of at least 30% of the
world’s oceans through the 30by30 initiative and there have been
some flagship measures such as the Ascension Island marine reserve,
which of course I welcome. However, those of us who have been in
this place for quite a while will remember pledges to introduce an
ecologically coherent network of...Request free trial
(Bristol
East) (Lab):...Monitoring and enforcement are, of course,
particularly important in our marine protected areas. The UK has
called for the protection of at least 30% of the world’s oceans
through the 30by30 initiative and there have been some flagship
measures such as the Ascension Island marine
reserve, which of course I welcome. However, those of us who have
been in this place for quite a while will remember pledges to
introduce an ecologically coherent network of 127 marine
conservation zones and marine protected areas around the UK—work
that was started by the previous Labour Government more than a
decade ago and is still not complete. Indeed, there is every sign
that the Government have no intention of completing it. As the
Environmental Audit Committee, of which I was then a member as was
the current DEFRA Minister in the Lords, said in its January 2019
report on sustainable seas, there is a risk of the existing MPAs
becoming merely paper parks unless they are effectively managed and
monitored, and that is simply not happening now...
