Protection begins for England s under-valued marine treasures

This morning George Eustice  - Minister for Farming, Food and Marine Environment - announced to Parliament the designation of 27 marine conservation zones in England s seas.  Today s news follows a four-year process since the introduction of the Marine and Coastal Access Act (2009) to ensure greater protection for our marine wildlife and natural treasures.

Two of the designated sites are located in the Irish Sea: the Cumbria Coast   the sea around St Bees - and Fylde Offshore, an area off the coast of Lancashire. 

St Bees cliffs

A selection process, led by a range of stakeholders, originally identified many more sites worthy of consideration, and Defra has

committed to two further tranches where hopefully the remainder of the shortlisted sites will proceed to designation. Other proposed sites in the Irish Sea, yet to be designated include the Sefton Coast, West of Walney and several off shore sites towards the Isle of Man.

Martin Harper is the RSPB s Conservation Director. Commenting on today s news, he said:  England has seas rich in marine wildlife sites and spectacles. But for too long these treasures have not received the protection they deserve. We re delighted that today s announcement begins to ensure marine protection for our undervalued  marine wildlife, but we have a long way to go before we achieve a network of sites which

adequately represents the breadth and biological importance of our marine wildlife. In particular, we urgently need the important sites for seabirds designated.

We recognise the minister s intentions to designate more sites in future, but this is only likely to happen with investment in gathering the information required to ensure designation.

 England s seas support thousands of species, from basking sharks to cup corals and leatherback turtles to gannets. As a nation we still know precious little about our marine wildlife, and there is still a

shortfall of Government-backed research cataloguing this wonderful resource.

This week saw the publication of the latest Nature Check report, the annual health check on Government s progress on its own nature commitments. Of 25 commitments, progress on marine conservation zones

scored badly, being one of nine commitments assessed as red. Toda0ys announcement is the first step towards seeing improvement on this commitment.

The RSPB is the UK s largest nature conservation charity, inspiring everyone to give nature a home. Together with our partners, we protect threatened birds and wildlife so our towns, coast and countryside will

teem with life once again. We play a leading role in BirdLife International, a worldwide partnership of nature conservation organisations.