Marine environment measures 'a drop in the ocean'

UK marine protection proposals are a drop in the ocean

Steps will be taken this week to designate the first offshore Natura 2000 sites (beyond 12 nautical miles) in the UK. If the UK’s proposals for the marine protected areas are formally approved by the European Commission, undersea areas such as the Darwin Mounds and Braemar and Scanner Pockmarks will gain protection from damaging human activities. However, WWF today raised its concerns over the level of protection this will afford to vulnerable marine species and habitats, and is calling upon the UK government to take swift action to establish further marine protected areas.

Natasha Barker, Senior Marine Policy Officer at WWF-UK says: “The UK’s proposals are but a drop in the ocean and are insufficient to fully protect our seas and the rich biodiversity they support. We need the UK Government to fulfil its duty to create a network of marine protected areas, otherwise many marine species and habitats will remain at risk.”

WWF is concerned that much of the UK’s marine environment continues to remain exposed to threats such as overfishing and oil and gas development. On land, around 20 per cent of the European Union is protected, but at sea, this figure is less than 1 per cent.

WWF is therefore proposing additional sites that will safeguard vital breeding grounds for marine species. These include the important sandbanks of the Dogger Bank, reefs located on the west Shetland slope and outer Wash, and areas such as Rattray Head in Scotland, and Skate Hole in England which support important populations of bottlenose dolphins and harbour porpoises.

The omission of these sites threatens to undermine the UK’s attempts to create a network of marine protected areas by 2012, an international commitment under the OSPAR Convention. This makes it even more important that the UK Marine and Coastal Access Bill, currently making its way through Parliament is given Royal Assent, and includes a binding duty to designate such a network.

Natasha Barker adds: “Further sites are needed to contribute to the Natura 2000 network but we also need the UK Marine and Coastal Access Bill to be strong enough to fill any gaps and ensure a healthy marine environment. WWF is calling for an ecologically coherent network of marine protected areas which represents the full range of biodiversity in UK waters”.

Notes

The way we live is leading to environmental threats such as climate change, species extinction, deforestation, water shortages and the collapse of fisheries. WWF’s One Planet Future Campaign is working to help people live a good quality of life within the earth’s capacity. For more information visit www.wwf.org.uk/oneplanet

WWF is presenting a report for the North Sea at the European Commission’s Marine Natura 2000 Seminar for the Atlantic Sea Region (24-25 March 2009, Galway, Ireland), outlining its proposals for marine protected areas. Copies are available upon request.