The Government are committed to protecting the ocean. Marine protected areas are pivotal to our ambitions to preserve and improve our seas. They are central to our international commitment to protect 30% of global seas by 2030. We have built a comprehensive network of 181 MPAs covering 40% of English waters. Now we are focusing on making sure they are properly protected.
MPAs are protected from the point of designation by the planning and marine licensing regimes that cover activities such as dredging for aggregates and construction of offshore wind farms. Some fishing methods, especially bottom trawling, can have a significant impact on our MPAs, and the Government are legally obliged to address this. Fishing is of course an important source of food, and is critical to our coastal communities. We want to support fishing, encourage it to become more sustainable, and ensure it does not damage protected species and habitats.
We use an evidence-led process to identify the specific measures needed to safeguard our MPAs. We have made good progress. Currently, 60% of English MPAs are protected by byelaws that limit the use of damaging fishing gear, but we need to do more.
The Marine Management Organisation is undertaking a programme to roll-out byelaws to protect all our offshore MPAs where needed. The first two stages of this programme have been completed, with byelaws covering 17 offshore MPAs. Today it is starting a consultation on the third stage, the largest by far.
The proposed byelaws are to protect coarse, sandy and muddy seabed habitats and the species that live on and in them. These include: ocean quahog—which can live up to 100 years old; fan mussel—one of Britain’s largest and most threatened molluscs; and sea pens—part of the soft coral family, which can look like large feathers sticking up out of muddy seabeds. This is a substantial package of proposed measures. It covers a further 42 MPAs and includes proposals to stop bottom trawling over approximately 30,000 sq km, approximately 13% of English waters.
We appreciate that these potential measures would impact fishing fleets, both domestic and European. We encourage them to respond to the consultation, and everyone else who cares about supporting our coastal communities and protecting our seas should also have their say. We recently announced a £360 million fishing and coastal growth fund, in part to help modernise Britain’s fishing fleet.
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