A Marine Conservation Zone (MCZ) is a type of

marine nature reserve Marine nature reserve (MNR) is a conservation designation officially awarded by a government to a marine reserve of national significance. Republic of Ireland Lough Hyne, a marine lake off of County Cork, is Ireland's only marine nature reserve. Un ...

in UK waters. They were established under the Marine and Coastal Access Act (2009) and are areas designated with the aim to protect nationally important, rare or threatened habitats and species. Approximately 20% of UK waters now have some protection although some conservation, fisherman and wildlife groups are concerned that there are no management plans for each zone. Following Brexit, legislation was introduced into Parliament in January 2020 which would give new powers to the

Marine Management Organisation The Marine Management Organisation (MMO) is an executive non-departmental public body in the United Kingdom established under the Marine and Coastal Access Act 2009, with responsibility for English waters. The MMO exists to make a significant cont ...

in English waters.

No Take Zones

MCZs generally do not provide "no-take" protection banning fishing. However,

Lundy Island Lundy is an English island in the Bristol Channel. It was a micronation from 1925–1969. It forms part of the district of Torridge in the county of Devon. About long and wide, Lundy has had a long and turbulent history, frequently chang ...

MCZ includes a preexisting "no-take zone", which was established in 2003. Two more no-take zones were established in UK waters by 2010 (bringing the total area protected to five square kilometres):, and an additional one in 2016 * Lamlash Bay (2008), subsequently included within the South Arran Marine Protection Area. *

Flamborough Head Flamborough Head () is a promontory, long on the Yorkshire coast of England, between the Filey and Bridlington bays of the North Sea. It is a chalk headland, with sheer white cliffs. The cliff top has two standing lighthouse towers, the ol ...

(2010). This no-take zone is part of a marine SAC rather than a MCZ. * Medway Nursery Area (2016). This 12.1 square kilometre no-take zone is part of the Medway Estuary MCZ. There has been criticism of the MCZs for not providing "no-take" protection for a higher proportion of UK waters; for example, the environmentalist

George Monbiot George Joshua Richard Monbiot ( ; born 27 January 1963) is a British writer known for his environmental and political activism. He writes a regular column for ''The Guardian'' and is the author of a number of books. Monbiot grew up in Oxfordsh ...

has raised the issue in his column in ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers '' The Observer'' and '' The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the ...

''.

England

On 21 November 2013 the first twenty-seven Marine Conservation Zones were designated, followed by a further twenty-three on 17 January 2016. There are now fifty MCZs in English seas protecting an area of .

2013 Marine Conservation Zones

# Aln Estuary # Beachy Head West # Blackwater, Crouch, Roach and Colne Estuaries # The Canyons # Chesil Beach and Stennis Ledges # Cumbria Coast # East of Haig Fras # Folkestone Pomerania # Fylde # Isles of Scilly # Kingmere #

Lundy Lundy is an English island in the Bristol Channel. It was a micronation from 1925–1969. It forms part of the district of Torridge in the county of Devon. About long and wide, Lundy has had a long and turbulent history, frequently chang ...

The Manacles The Manacles ( kw, Meyn Eglos, meaning ''church stones'') () are a set of treacherous rocks off The Lizard peninsula in Cornwall. The rocks are rich in marine wildlife and they are a popular spot for diving due to the many shipwrecks. Traditio ...

# Medway Estuary # North East of Farnes Deep # Padstow Bay and Surrounds # Pagham Harbour # Poole Rocks # Skerries Bank and Surrounds # South Dorset # South-West Deeps (West) # Swallow Sand # Tamar Estuary # Thanet Coast # Torbay # Upper Fowey and Pont Pill # Whitsand and Looe Bay

2016 Marine Conservation Zones

# Allonby Bay # Bideford to Foreland Bay # Coquet to St Mary's # Cromer Shoal Chalk Beds # Dover to Deal # Dover to Folkestone # Farnes East # Fulmar # Greater

Haig Fras Haig Fras is a 45 km long submarine granitic rocky outcrop in the southern part of the Celtic Sea, lying about 95 km northwest of the Isles of Scilly. It covers an area of . At one point it reaches within 38 m of the sea surface. It is ...

# Hartland Point to Tintagel # Holderness Inshore # North-west of Jones Bank #

Land's End Land's End ( kw, Penn an Wlas or ''Pedn an Wlas'') is a headland and tourist and holiday complex in western Cornwall, England, on the Penwith peninsula about west-south-west of Penzance at the western end of the A30 road. To the east of it is ...

Mount's Bay Mount's Bay ( kw, Baya an Garrek) is a large, sweeping bay on the English Channel coast of Cornwall, United Kingdom, stretching from the Lizard Point to Gwennap Head. In the north of the bay, near Marazion, is St Michael's Mount; the origin ...

The Needles The Needles is a row of three stacks of chalk that rise about out of the sea off the western extremity of the Isle of Wight in the English Channel, United Kingdom, close to Alum Bay and Scratchell's Bay, and part of Totland, the westernmo ...

# Newquay and The Gannel # Offshore Brighton # Offshore Overfalls (south-east of the Isle of Wight) #

Runswick Bay Runswick Bay is a bay in the Scarborough Borough of North Yorkshire, England. It is also the name of a village located on the western edge of the bay (although the village is sometimes shortened to Runswick on UK road signs). It is north of ...

# Swale Estuary # Utopia (south-west of

Selsey Bill Selsey Bill is a headland into the English Channel on the south coast of England in the county of West Sussex. The southernmost town in Sussex is Selsey which is at the end of the Manhood Peninsula and ''Selsey Bill'' is situated on the town's so ...

) # Western Channel #

West of Walney co-location zone West of Walney is a Marine Conservation Zone in the Irish Sea west of Walney Island, England. It was designated in 2016 to protect subtidal mud and sand habitats: at that time the MCZ was one of three off the coast of Cumbria, the others being Allon ...

Northern Ireland

Following the passing of the Marine Act (Northern Ireland) 2013 only

Strangford Lough Strangford Lough (from Old Norse ''Strangr Fjörðr'', meaning "strong sea-inlet"PlaceNames N ...

was designated as a Marine Conservation Zone. In 2015 consultations for a further four proposed MCZs were announced. The consultations ended in March 2016 and the four MCZs were designated in December 2016.

Proposed Marine Conservation Zones

# Carlingford # Outer Belfast Lough # Rathlin # Waterfoot

Scotland

In the summer of 2014 the Cabinet Secretary for Rural Affairs, Food and the Environment announced thirty new Marine Protected Areas. Along with thirty

Special Areas of Conservation A Special Area of Conservation (SAC) is defined in the European Union's Habitats Directive (92/43/EEC), also known as the ''Directive on the Conservation of Natural Habitats and of Wild Fauna and Flora''. They are to protect the 220 habitats and ap ...

(SAC), forty-seven

Special Protection Area A Special Protection Area (SPA) is a designation under the European Union Directive on the Conservation of Wild Birds. Under the Directive, Member States of the European Union (EU) have a duty to safeguard the habitats of migratory birds and certa ...

s (SPA) and sixty-one

Sites of Special Scientific Interest A Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) in Great Britain or an Area of Special Scientific Interest (ASSI) in the Isle of Man and Northern Ireland is a conservation designation denoting a protected area in the United Kingdom and Isle of ...

(SSSI), 20% of Scottish waters have differing levels of protection.

Nature Conservation Marine Protected Areas

There are seventeen protected areas within Scotland's territorial waters (i.e. within ) #

Clyde Clyde may refer to: People * Clyde (given name) * Clyde (surname) Places For townships see also Clyde Township Australia * Clyde, New South Wales * Clyde, Victoria * Clyde River, New South Wales Canada * Clyde, Alberta * Clyde, Ontario, a tow ...

Sea Sill #

East Caithness Cliffs The name East Caithness Cliffs refers to weathered sandstone cliffs on the east coast of Caithness in Scotland. The cliffs, which rise to 150 m at Berriedale, provide ideal nesting conditions for breeding seabirds, and are protected by seve ...

Fetlar Fetlar ( sco, Fetlar) is one of the North Isles of Shetland, Scotland, with a usually resident population of 61 at the time of the 2011 census. Its main settlement is Houbie on the south coast, home to the Fetlar Interpretive Centre. Fetlar i ...

to Haroldswick #

Loch Creran Loch Creran is a sea loch in Argyll, on the west coast of Scotland. It is about long from its head at Invercreran to its mouth on the Lynn of Lorne, part of Loch Linnhe. The loch separates the areas of Benderloch to the south and Appin to the n ...

Loch Sunart Loch Sunart (Scottish Gaelic ) is a sea loch on the west coast of Scotland. Loch Sunart is bounded to the north by the Sunart district of Ardnamurchan and to the south by the Morvern district. At long, it is the longest sea loch in the Highlan ...

# Loch Sunart to the Sound of Jura #

Loch Sween ''Loch'' () is the Scottish Gaelic, Scots and Irish word for a lake or sea inlet. It is cognate with the Manx lough, Cornish logh, and one of the Welsh words for lake, llwch. In English English and Hiberno-English, the anglicised spellin ...

# Lochs Duich,

Long Long may refer to: Measurement * Long, characteristic of something of great duration * Long, characteristic of something of great length * Longitude (abbreviation: long.), a geographic coordinate * Longa (music), note value in early music mensu ...

and Alsh # Monarch Isles #

Mousa Mousa ( non, Mosey "moss island") is a small island in Shetland, Scotland, uninhabited since the nineteenth century. The island is known for the Broch of Mousa, an Iron Age round tower, and is designated as a Special Protection Area for storm- ...

to Boddam #

Noss Head Noss Head is a headland on the north-west coast of Scotland that overlooks Sinclairs Bay. It lies approximately north-east of Wick in Caithness, in the Highland council area of Scotland. Noss Head was first mentioned in the historical record a ...

# Papa Westray #

Small Isles The Small Isles ('' gd, Na h-Eileanan Tarsainn'') are a small archipelago of islands in the Inner Hebrides, off the west coast of Scotland. They lie south of Skye and north of Mull and Ardnamurchan – the most westerly point of ma ...

# South Arran # Upper

Loch Fyne Loch Fyne ( gd, Loch Fìne, ; meaning "Loch of the Vine/Wine"), is a sea loch off the Firth of Clyde and forms part of the coast of the Cowal peninsula. Located on the west coast of Argyll and Bute, Scotland. It extends inland from the Sound ...

and

Loch Goil Loch Goil; ( gd, Loch Goil) is a small sea loch forming part of the coast of the Cowal peninsula in Argyll and Bute, Scotland. The sea loch is entirely within the Loch Lomond and The Trossachs National Park. It is an arm of Loch Long. The v ...

Wester Ross Wester Ross () is an area of the Northwest Highlands of Scotland in the council area of Highland. The area is loosely defined, and has never been used as a formal administrative region in its own right, but is generally regarded as lying to t ...

# Wyre and Rousay Sounds A further thirteen protected areas are outside Scottish territorial waters # Central Fladen (CFL) # East of

Gannet Gannets are seabirds comprising the genus ''Morus'' in the family Sulidae, closely related to boobies. Gannets are large white birds with yellowish heads; black-tipped wings; and long bills. Northern gannets are the largest seabirds in the ...

and Montrose Fields (EGM) # Faroe-Shetland Sponge Belt (FSS) # Firth of Forth Banks Complex (FOF) # Geikie Slide and

Hebridean Slope The Geikie Slide is a submarine landslide on the seabed of the North Atlantic Ocean to the northwest of Scotland. The slide occurs in a region known as the Hebridean Slope, the continental slope where the seabed drops from the continental shelf ...

(GSH) # Hatton-Rockall Basin (HRB) # North-east Faroe-Shetland Channel (NEF) # North-west

Orkney Orkney (; sco, Orkney; on, Orkneyjar; nrn, Orknøjar), also known as the Orkney Islands, is an archipelago in the Northern Isles of Scotland, situated off the north coast of the island of Great Britain. Orkney is 10 miles (16 km) north ...

(NWO) # Norwegian Boundary Sediment Plain (NSP) # Rosemary Bank Seamount (RBS) # Barra Fan and Hebrides Terrace Seamount (BHT) # Turbot Bank (TBB) # West Shetland Shelf (WSS)

Wales

Skomer Marine Conservation Zone (around the island of

Skomer Skomer () or Skomer Island is an island off the coast of Pembrokeshire, in the community of Marloes and St Brides in west Wales. It is well known for its wildlife: around half the world's population of Manx shearwaters nest on the island, the A ...

) is the only site in Wales designated as a Marine Conservation Zone. There are 128 marine protected areas in Welsh seas and

Natural Resources Wales Natural Resources Wales ( cy, Cyfoeth Naturiol Cymru) is a Welsh Government sponsored body, which became operational from 1 April 2013, when it took over the management of the natural resources of Wales. It was formed from a merger of the Coun ...

(''Cyfoeth Naturiol Cymru'') is consulting with the Welsh Government and the

Joint Nature Conservation Committee The Joint Nature Conservation Committee (JNCC) is the public body that advises the UK Government and devolved administrations on UK-wide and international nature conservation. Originally established under the Environmental Protection Act 1990, J ...

(JNCC) to consider if anymore areas need protecting.

References

{{Reflist, 30em

External links

Lundy Marine Conservation Zone Official Site
Fishing in the United Kingdom Marine reserves of the United Kingdom Lists of protected areas of the United Kingdom