Fifteen new areas to give protection to UK seas
20 August 2010
Fifteen new Marine Protected Areas were created today, designed to protect important habitats and species.
Four of these are ‘Special Areas of Conservation’ (SAC) located off the coast of the South West – Lyme Bay and Torbay (Devon), Prawle Point to Plymouth Sound and Eddystone (Devon), Lizard Point (Cornwall), and Land’s End and Cape Bank (Cornwall).
The UK Government has submitted all the sites to the European Commission to be included within the European ‘Natura 2000’ network of protected areas.
The sites which were selected on the basis of the best scientific evidence available have undergone a rigorous and transparent assessment and will bring protection to habitats including reefs, sea caves and sandbanks, where marine life thrives. Reefs support a colourful array of sponges, sea squirts and corals that provide shelter for crabs, lobsters and fish such as the multi-coloured cuckoo wrasse.
Marine Environment Minister, Richard Benyon, said: “Our seas are home to some of the most diverse species and habitats in the world and they need just as much protection as our land. Today is a major step forward in helping us to achieve clean, healthy and vibrant seas where marine life can thrive.
Working hand-in-hand with the creation of Marine Conservation Zones, created under the groundbreaking Marine and Coastal Access Act, these sites will make a major contribution to the delivery of an ecological network of Marine Protected Areas by 2012.”
Natural England is also undertaking a further consultation which starts today on a possible extension to the Prawle Point to Plymouth Sound and Eddystone SAC – the extension is called Prawle Point to Start Point pSAC. The consultation will close on 12th November 2010.
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Notes to editors:
1. The new candidate Special Areas of Conservation (SACs) are:
Inner Dowsing, Race Bank and North Ridge
North Norfolk Sandbanks and Saturn Reef
Haisborough, Hammond and Winterton
Margate and Long Sands
Bassurelle Sandbank
Lyme Bay and Torbay
Prawle Point to Plymouth Sound and Eddystone
Lizard Point
Land’s End and Cape Bank
Shell Flat
Red Bay
North-West Rockall Bank
Wyville Thomson Ridge
The new Special Protection Areas (for birds) are:
Outer Thames Estuary
Liverpool Bay/Bae Lerpwl (agreed with the Welsh Assembly Government)
The two possible SACs subject to another consultation by Natural England are:
Lune Deep
Prawle Point to Start Point
The possible SAC being consulted upon by JNCC is:
Dogger Bank
The site that was previously called Poole Bay to Lyme Bay pSAC (off the Devon and Dorset coast) when formally consulted upon in November 2009 has now been split into two separate sites:
the ‘Lyme Bay’ component has been renamed Lyme Bay and Torbay SAC and has been recommended for designation.
the evidence for the site boundary in Poole Bay (to be renamed Studland to Portland) is being reviewed before submitting for approval later this year, with formal consultation likely to begin in early 2011.
Further information on the Natura 2000 sites, new sites and the consultations may be found at www.doeni.gov.uk
and www.ni-environment.gov.uk
2. Marine Conservation Zones (MCZs)
MCZs are a new national designation as proposed in the new Marine and Coastal Access Act 2009. MCZs will be designated to protect nationally important and representative habitats and species and, together with the Natura 2000 sites, Sites of Special Scientific Interest (SSSIs), Ramsar sites and new national MPAs in Scotland and Northern Ireland will create our MPA network. MCZs in English inshore and English, Welsh and Northern Irish offshore waters will be identified through a different process to the Natura 2000 sites. Recommendations are proposed to be made to Government by October 2011.
More information about MCZs and MPA projects
3. For more information, maps and photographs of marine species please contact:
Natural England
Martin Gershon, Communications Specialist T: 07900 608364 E: martin.gershon@naturalengland.org.uk website www.naturalengland.org.uk
Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
Martin Deller, Senior Press Officer T: 020 7238 5391 E: martin.deller@defra.gsi.gov.uk website www.defra.gov.uk
