MPAs

Scotland’s iconic marine species and habitats will be better protected following the designation of 30 Marine Protected Areas. Scottish Government   ‘Sites will protect a range of habitats and species including flameshell beds, feather stars, the common skate and ocean quahog, a large mollusc which can live for centuries. They will also protect sandeels – a […]

MPs have cast doubt on the Government’s commitment to protect sea life in Marine Conservation Zones (MCZ) after less than a quarter of the recommended sites were designated and inadequate enforcement provisions put in place. Report: Marine Protected Areas Report: Marine Protected Areas (PDF) Inquiry: Marine Protected Areas Environmental Audit Committee   Committee Chair   Chair […]

Callum Roberts ‘ 0.000001 – one hundred thousandth – is a number so small that to most people it seems like nothing at all. Yet four and a half years since the Marine Act of 2009 came into force – legislation that was heralded as the saviour of UK seas – this is the sum […]

Joan Edwards Blog  ‘Whilst ‘ecological coherence’ is a term that appears throughout various legislation and policy documents, and trips off the tongue of many working in the field of marine policy, we must ask ourselves what we actually mean by this? To put it in context, it is used in reference to how we wish […]

Ballantine 50 years on   RE: This is a landmark paper – the antidote to Defra think on MCZ’s – it illustrates, based on 50 years of work on real – fully protected – marine reserves what we could expect if we ever applied such thinking here … pigs might fly… Bill Ballantine: New Zealand pioneered […]