Bumping Along The Bottom

This Sunday, March 31^st marks the end of the UK government’s consultation period on proposals to create Marine Conservation Zones (MCZ) in English and Welsh offshore waters.  It concludes a four year process set up by The Joint Nature Conservation Committee and Natural England to look at ways of protecting the marine environment.

From the outset the project was designed to be as comprehensive as possible, recognising the complex and varied relationship we have with the seas around our shores.  We treat the sea as a larder, a playground, a factory, a dustbin, a transport superhighway, a source of energy, a carbon sink and much more.  Accordingly the list of groups invited to consult was also long and varied (see below).

In September 2011, the project delivered a list of 127 recommended sites, each one specially selected to protect significant species or individual habitats.  The smallest may cover a single reef or tidal estuary, while the largest protects a large swathe of the biologically important Dogger Bank.  Together these 127 sites account for roughly 15% of the total sea area managed by DEFRA (The Department of Environment, Food and Rural Affairs). (Separate proposals are in place for Scotland and inshore waters in Wales.)

It is important to understand that these MCZs are not exclusion zones.  Their purpose is to protect the sea bed, including the huge range of fish, plants and invertebrates that live and breed there.  Destructive forms of fishing such as scallop dredging or beam trawling are prohibited, but low impact forms of fishing are allowed to continue.

They are not an attack on fishermen or the communities who live by fishing.  Half of Britain’s fisheries are currently being fished out to unsustainable levels, according to government figures.  These MCZs will protect the long term future of fishing in British waters.

Last year the government announced that after spending £8 million and taking three years to review, it intended to protect only 31 of the 127 sites recommend, a list which the government’s own scientists said was needed to secure the health of our oceans.

So much for the ‘Greenest Government Ever’!  Of course the government needs to balance the competing interests of the environment with the need to secure jobs and growth, but even the deepest recessions come to an end within a few years.  Compare that to the ocean quahog which takes 400 years to reach full size and is now endangered by unrestricted trawling. 31 conservation zones represents the minimum that the department could do for the environment.  Right now it is not only the trawl doors that are bumping along the bottom!

The Marine Conservation Society (MCS) has been lobbying to get the government to follow through on its own recommendations, and the TV chef and campaigner, Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall took up the cause in his programme Hugh’s Fish Fight.

On February 25^th, around 1500 people braved a biting Easterly wind to march across Westminster Bridge and petition Parliament.  I know because I was one of them.  Since then, over 24,000 have used the site to send emails to DEFRA demanding 127 MCZs.

It will be interesting to see what impact this demonstration of people power has.  It is yet another test for the man who is rapidly becoming something of a regular feature on this blog, Environment Secretary, Owen Paterson.  But whatever the outcome of the consultation, we now know what needs to be done to protect our seas.  I hope and expect that the fight will go on beyond Sunday until the full list of MCZs in in place.

The following list is taken from the DEFRA website:

  

List of Consultees

Academic / research organisations
Angling organisations
Aquaculture organisations
Coastal development organisations
Coastal managers
Coastal MPs
Commercial Fishermen’s organisations
Consumer organisations
Environmental NGOs
Government agencies
Inshore fisheries and conservation authorities
Local Government
Marine aggregates industry sector organisations
Marine dredging industry sector organisations
Marine industry sector groups/organisations
Marine leisure & recreational organisations
Oil & gas industry sector organisations
Ports and Harbours authorities
Producer organisations
Recreational boating sector organisations
Regional advisory councils
Renewable energy sector organisations
Shipping industry sector organisations