 web.jpg "Angler Fish (Credit Paul Naylor)")
Angler Fish (Credit Paul Naylor)
Sediment habitats provide good cover for fish species to pounce on prey.
This area is an important nursery and spawning sites for marine fish.
15km south of the Isles of Scilly, this recommended MCZ is of particular importance due to the subtidal sand and coarse sediment habitats. The area improves the connectivity for these sediment habitats and the marine species that rely upon this habitat, including the commercially important monkfish.
This site is extremely important for marine wildlife due to a relatively high occurrence of thermal fronts that are highly productive and support rich supplies of plankton. The second largest fish in the world, the basking shark, is occasionally spotted here throughout the summer months during migrations inshore from the continental shelf to filter feed on copepods aggregated along frontal systems. This site has also been associated with important nursery and spawning sites for marine fish and is an important area for seabirds.
This recommended Marine Conservation Zone is ON HOLD at the moment as Defra has indicated that there is not enough evidence to support designation.
We need you to urge Defra to commit commit to gathering the additional evidence needed as soon as possible and to consider this site as an urgent and high priority for designation in the next tranche:
Defra has indicated the need for additional data to improve the certainty of the ecological data and the need for further work to understand the implications of designation of the site for the non-UK commercial fishing sector.
South of the Isles of Scilly has been identified as being at risk by Natural England and the Joint Nature Conservation Committee. All features found within the site are at a high risk of damage and deterioration from human activities within the site.
We need you to urge Defra to commit commit to gathering the additional evidence needed as soon as possible and to consider this site as an urgent and high priority for designation in the next tranche. The site should be protected from further damage and degradation in the meantime.
Other nearby MCZs
Isles of Scilly Sites Land’s End
Location map
South of the Isles of Scilly recommended MCZ is located in the map below.
Contains UKHO Law of the Sea data. Crown copyright and database right and contains Ordnance Survey Data Crown copyright and database 2012
Downloads
| Filename | File size |
|---|---|
| South of the Isles of Scilly.pdf | 342.19 KB |