Posted: Thursday 28th February 2013 by Joan
Seeing the world’s largest mammal, the blue whale, experiencing cod more than a metre long and seemingly limitless shoals of herring and pilchards, landing a blue fin tuna, weighing more than 800lbs, in UK seas. All this was possible as little as 100 years ago. Can you imagine that?
This is a shocking illustration that our seas’ resources are not inexhaustible. Their ability to cope with the pressures we put on them - whether over fishing, industrial pollution or the impacts of climate change- is limited. And, despite us being aware of such dramatic changes in a lifetime, still less than 0.001% of the UK seas are fully protected from damaging activities.
Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) are just one – but an essential - approach which will allow this precious resource to recover after decades of decline. Designating protected areas is a complex process. Our seas are intensely busy environments, placed under increasing demands. However, what we must do is ensure that amongst all the activity, there is space for nature. We must secure areas which protect not only the most vulnerable and rare of species, but which also protect those every day plants and animals now found living alongside industrial and recreational activities.
Appropriately created MPAs will bring benefits to us all. They will help to ensure that this incredibly important environment has the chance to recover. An ecologically coherent network of Marine Protected Areas, of which our Marine Conservation Zones (MCZs) form a vital part, should mean that we have healthier, more productive and diverse environment in which to work, play and enjoy. This is surely something to which we should all aspire.
To showcase the potential benefits from the proposed network of MCZs we commissioned a report from Plymouth University, which concludes:
• MCZs can increase the socio-economic benefits of the marine environment: Designation is likely to result in an improvement in beneficial ecosystem services.
• The more connectivity in the network, the more we benefit: The ecological connectivity of the network is likely to have an important part to play in supporting the delivery of beneficial ecosystem services and their associated socio-economic value at various scales.
• Doing nothing means we lose economically as well as environmentally: Failure to designate the network of MCZs is likely to result in the deterioration of the beneficial ecosystem services, meaning the current levels of economic benefit from the marine environment will not be sustained.
You can read the full report here.
Defra is now consulting on 31 recommended MCZs. We need you to respond and add your support to the designation of these sites. What we need to make clear is that these 31 are only the start. We need more to be added to the network to ensure that it provides the most meaningful protection. You can have your say on our pages and through our interactive map. Find out where each of the sites, recommended by stakeholders, lies in the consultation. Please make the most of this historic opportunity.
Read Joan's latest blog entries.
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