Source: Sussex Sea Angling Network
Joan Edwards, The Wildlife Trusts’ Head of Living Seas, said:
“It is vital for the appropriate management of the 27 newly designated sites to be implemented as soon as possible.
We welcome yesterday’s (21 November 2013) designation of 27 Marine Conservation Zones. This is the first active step in what we believe to be the most important action Government can take to address the shocking state of nature at sea.
Marine protection is an issue which matters to anyone who has ever spent happy afternoons exploring rockpools or been enchanted by chance encounters with dolphins, whales or one of the many other captivating species we enjoy in our waters.
There is huge public support for greater protection of our seas using Marine Protected Areas. They are one of the best tools to protect marine wildlife effectively and restore our seas to their full potential, following decades of neglect and decline.
It is vital for the appropriate management of the 27 designated sites to be implemented as soon as possible. We look forward to working with Government to ensure this happens.
We are buoyed by the Government’s commitment to establishing future tranches of Marine Conservation Zones, demonstrating that it also remains committed to completing the ecologically coherent network of Marine Protected Areas so desperately needed.”
Marine Conservation Zones are vital to protect and restore the marine environment and are also needed for mobile species – such as whales, dolphins, basking sharks and seabirds – in order to create a network that is truly ecologically coherent.”
The 27 Designated Marine Conservation Zones:
1. The Canyons
2. South-West Deeps (West)
3. East of Haig Fras
4. Poole Rocks
5. South Dorset
6. Chesil Beach and Stennis Ledges
7. Torbay
8. Skerries Bank and surrounds
9. Tamar Estuary Sites
10. Whitsand and Looe Bay
11. Upper Fowey and Pont Pill
12. The Manacles
13. Isle of Scilly Sites
14. Padstow Bay and surrounds
15. Lundy
16. Fylde Offshore
17. Cumbria Coast
18. Aln Estuary
19. Swallow Sand
20. Rock Unique
21. Blackwater, Crouch, Roach and Colne Estuaries
22. Medway Estuary
23. Thanet Coast
24. Folkestone Pomerania
25. Beachy Head West
26. Kingmere
27. Pagham Harbour
