Protection urged for UK sea life

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Protected areas could help to regenerate valuable fish stocks

Conservation scientists have identified eight " biodiversity hotspots "

around Britain's coast which they say ought to be priorities for

protection.

 

The Marine Biological Association (MBA) and WWF want these areas to

be given protected status under the government's proposed Marine

Bill.

 

They include areas of importance for fish, mammals, birds and

shellfish.

 

The government says it remains committed to introducing a Marine Bill

within this term of Parliament.

 

Its absence from the Queen's Speech surprised and angered

conservation groups. Publication of a white paper could come as early

as March.

 

Special sites

 

Currently, the UK has 56 Special Areas of Conservation (SACs) which

include marine habitat, with a further five under consideration.

 

EIGHT OF THE BEST

 

These are particularly diverse areas, and we want them to be highly

protected marine reserves

 

Kate Reeves, WWF

Development is restricted in these areas; but WWF believes hotspots

need a higher level of protection, as has recently been implemented

around the Isle of Lundy, the UK's first " no-take zone " where fishing

is banned.

 

" It's part of our international commitments (on biodiversity), and if

the government doesn't now come forward with the bill we will be

immensely upset, " said WWF's marine policy officer Kate Reeves.

 

" These are particularly diverse areas, and we want them to be highly

protected marine reserves, " she told the BBC News website.

 

With such a range of habitats around the coast, scientists need a way

of identifying which ones should be priorities for protection.

 

The Marine Biological Association and partners have used a complex

set of criteria. Broadly speaking, an area is considered special if:

 

it includes a high proportion of the global or regional population of

a species

it is home to organisms that do not move

decline has been identified

decline is likely

it is manageable as a coherent unit

They assessed more than 120 sites around the UK, and detailed eight

areas which they feel are especially deserving of protection.

 

These include Plymouth Reefs in the southwest of England, Rathlin

Island in Northern Ireland and the Menai Strait in Wales.

 

All are notable for a huge richness of species. Unst in the Shetlands

contains the only British representatives of species that thrive in

the Arctic, including some sea urchins and sea cucumbers.

 

The estuary of the Blackwater in Essex is important for wading birds,

yet threatened by human development; while the Dogger Bank in the

North Sea is important for the harbour porpoise and as a spawning

ground for herring.

 

The government acknowledged the need for marine protected areas in

the consultation which it ran last year on the scheduled Marine Bill.

 

Protection can have benefits for people as well as nature. The Isle

of Lundy no-take zone has led to a significant rise in the number of

lobsters, which could provide a boost to the local fishing industry.