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hatrack

(59,439 posts)
Wed Jun 18, 2014, 08:49 AM Jun 2014

UK Marine Conservation Program "Worse Than Useless" - 1/100,000th Of Area Protected, Feebly

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 total of UK waters that is protected from all fishing for the purpose of nature conservation.

The Marine Act is that rare thing: a law supported by all political parties. The sea is dear to so many of us it transcends ideology. In the run up to the law's enactment, there was widespread recognition that the seas were in trouble. Fisheries were in decline, once rich habitats had been stripped by two centuries of destructive fishing, and formerly abundant species had been brought to the verge of disappearance. Five such endangered species are featured on a set of stamps issued this month by the Royal Mail: sturgeon, common skate, spiny dogfish, conger eel and wolffish. There are dozens more.

Recognising the emerging crisis, coastal nations of the world committed in 2002 at the World Summit on Sustainable Development to establish national networks of marine protected areas by 2012. The Marine Act established the legal framework for a UK marine protected area network that would be comprehensive and representative of the full spectrum of marine life, complementing more narrowly targeted EU directives.

EDIT

But this is where marine policy unravels comprehensively. None of the 27 conservation zones declared in 2013 have yet received any new protection. My students and I have probed Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, the Marine Management Organisation and various inshore fisheries and conservation authorities and it seems that virtually no new protection is on offer. In fact they seem to be falling over themselves to reassure the fishing industry that the zones will be open to business as usual. Even in the few small places where protection from certain fishing methods is being (reluctantly) entertained the measures will be entirely voluntary. Which begs the question: what was the point? Why spend upwards of £10m to create an elaborate network of paper parks? Why have a law that permits mandatory protection and leave protection to the goodwill of users?

EDIT

http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2014/jun/17/england-marine-conservation-zones

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