02 Jun 2019

BBC ‘A fragile flame shell reef which was severely damaged by scallop dredging on Scotland’s north west coast has been granted permanent protection. Ministers had issued a temporary order banning mobile fishing on Loch Carron in Wester Ross after the 2017 incident. Divers who visited the reef, which is a nursery ground for scallops, found the area […]

26 Mar 2019

Thanks to Keith Hiscock for picking this up Southern IFCA: Scallop Dredger Caught in Lyme Bay Marine Protected Area In a case heard in Weymouth Magistrates Court the Plymouth based scallop fishing dredger Cristal Waters FY34 was found to have used scallop dredges within the Lyme Bay Marine Protected Area, contrary to the Southern Inshore […]

17 Mar 2019

MPA News Open Channels:  ‘As the global MPA community approaches the 2020 deadline for meeting Aichi Target 11, it must achieve two potentially very different goals. There is the numerical goal of covering 10% of coastal and marine areas in MPAs. And there is the qualitative goal that the conservation be achieved through “effectively and equitably managed, ecologically representative and […]

12 Feb 2019

IFCAs – Press Release ‘Since their inception in 2011, the IFCAs have led the development of effective management for inshore Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) in England. To date IFCAs have introduced 23 new byelaws for the management of fishing activities in inshore MPAs, including the permanent closure of 3,980km2 of sea area to potentially damaging […]

12 Feb 2019

Keith Hiscock: This is how you do it! Excellent report from the Skomer team – really helping us to understand natural (and probably not so natural) fluctuations in species and climate etc. Skomer marine Conservation Zone – Project Status Report (Evidence Report 251) This is the seventeenth project status report produced by the Skomer Marine […]

29 Oct 2018

Marine Conservation Society By: Clare Fischer  ‘The UK has come under pressure to better protect harbour porpoises after the European Court of Justice ruled that it had failed to provide enough sites for the only member of the porpoise family found in European waters. Dr Jean-Luc Solandt, MCS, Principle Specialist Marine Protected Areas, says: “We’ve been […]

25 Sep 2018

Roseanna Cunningham Environment Secretary visits COAST’s new visitor centre Cunningham commits to tackling “serious issues” of biodiversity loss and climate change Scottish Cabinet Secretary, Roseanna Cunningham, visited us this week at Scotland’s first MPA visitor centre, the Octopus Centre. COAST was pleased to see her interact with the new exhibitions and display her knowledge! But we were […]