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 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 olde ...

(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 an English journalist, author, and Environmental movement, environmental and political activist. He writes a regular column for ''The Guardian'' and has written several books. Monbiot ...

has raised the issue in his column in ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...

''.

Bottom trawling Bottom trawling is trawling (towing a trawl, which is a fishing net) along the seafloor. It is also referred to as "dragging". The scientific community divides bottom trawling into benthic trawling and Demersal zone, demersal trawling. Benthic tra ...

remains permitted in many of the UK's marine protected areas, including its MCZs.

Highly Protected Marine Areas

Allonby Bay off the Solway Firth, Cumbria, North East of Farnes Deep off Northumberland, and Dolphin Head, West Sussex, have been chosen as Highly Protected Marine Areas (HPMAs), which give greater protection to the marine environment, with prohibitions against activity such as dredging and trawling. The new status came into force in July 2023. Joan Edwards, speaking on behalf of The Wildlife Trusts, said, "These three tiny spots cover just 0.4% of English seas - and we're looking forward to seeing further designations so that we can safeguard our seas for the future." A plan to create HPMAs in 10% of Scotland's seas was rejected by the Scottish government following pressure from the fishing industry and some island communities.

England

On 21 November 2013 the first twenty-seven Marine Conservation Zones were designated, a further twenty-three were announced on 17 January 2016 followed by a further forty-one on 31 May 2019.

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 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 changing hands between the British crown and ...

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

Land's End Land's End ( or ''Pedn an Wlas'') is a headland and tourist and holiday complex in western Cornwall, England, United Kingdom, 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 () is a bay on the English Channel coast of Cornwall, England, stretching from the Lizard Point, Cornwall, Lizard Point to Gwennap Head. In the north of the bay, near Marazion, is St Michael's Mount; the origin of name of the bay. ...

The Needles The Needles are 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 weste ...

Newquay Newquay ( ; ) is a town on the north coast in Cornwall, England, United Kingdom. It is a civil parishes in England, civil parish, seaside resort, regional centre for aerospace industries with an airport and a spaceport, and a fishing port on t ...

and The Gannel # Offshore Brighton # Offshore Overfalls (south-east of the Isle of Wight) # Runswick Bay # Swale Estuary # Utopia (south-west of Selsey Bill) # Western Channel # West of Walney co-location zone

2019 Marine Conservation Zones

# Albert Field # Axe Estuary # Beachy Head East # Bembridge # Berwick to St. Mary's # Camel Estuary # Cape Bank # Dart Estuary # Devon Avon Estuary # East of Start Point # Erme Estuary # Foreland # Goodwin Sands # Helford Estuary # Holderness Offshore # Inner Bank # Kentish Knock East # Markham's Triangle # Morte Platform # North East of Haig Fras # North West of Lundy # Orford Inshore # Otter Estuary # Purbeck Coast # Queenie Corner # Ribble Estuary # Selsey Bill and the Hounds # Solway Firth # South of Celtic Deep # South of Portland # South of the Isles of Scilly # South Rigg # South West Approaches to the Bristol Channel # South West Deeps (East) # Southbourne Rough # Studland Bay # Swanscombe # West of Copeland # West of Wight Barfleur # Wyre-Lune # Yarmouth to Cowes

Northern Ireland

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

Strangford Lough Strangford Lough () is a large sea lough or inlet in County Down, in the east of Northern Ireland. It is the largest inlet in Ireland and the wider British Isles, covering . The lough is almost fully enclosed by the Ards Peninsula and is linke ...

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 A marine protected area (MPA) is a protected area of the world's seas, oceans, estuary, estuaries or in the US, the Great Lakes. These marine areas can come in many forms ranging from wildlife refuges to research facilities. MPAs restrict human ...

. 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 cer ...

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 ...

(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 Sea Sill # East Caithness Cliffs # Fetlar to Haroldswick #

Loch Creran Loch Creran is a sea loch in Argyll and Bute, 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 ...

# Loch Sunart # Loch Sunart to the Sound of Jura # Loch Sween # 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 mens ...

and Alsh # Monarch Isles #

Mousa Mousa ( "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 Broch, round tower, and is designated as a Special Protection Area for storm-petr ...

to Boddam # Noss Head #

Papa Westray Papa Westray () (), also known as Papay, is one of the Orkney Islands in Scotland, United Kingdom. The fertile soilKeay, J. & Keay, J. (1994) ''Collins Encyclopaedia of Scotland''. London. HarperCollins. has long been a draw to the island. ...

# Small Isles # South Arran # Upper

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

and

Loch Goil 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 village of Lochg ...

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 th ...

# 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. They are known as 'solan' or 'solan goose' in Scotland. A common misconception is that the Scottish name is 'guga' but this is the Gaelic n ...

and Montrose Fields (EGM) # Faroe-Shetland Sponge Belt (FSS) # Firth of Forth Banks Complex (FOF) # Geikie Slide and Hebridean Slope (GSH) # Hatton-Rockall Basin (HRB) # North-east Faroe-Shetland Channel (NEF) # North-west

Orkney Orkney (), also known as the Orkney Islands, is an archipelago off the north coast of mainland Scotland. The plural name the Orkneys is also sometimes used, but locals now consider it outdated. Part of the Northern Isles along with Shetland, ...

(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 area A marine protected area (MPA) is a protected area of the world's seas, oceans, estuaries or in the US, the Great Lakes. These marine areas can come in many forms ranging from wildlife refuges to research facilities. MPAs restrict human activity ...

s in Welsh seas and

Natural Resources Wales Natural Resources Wales () 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 Countryside Council for Wales, E ...

(''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 Government of the United Kingdom and devolved administrations on UK-wide and international nature conservation. Originally established under the Environmental Pro ...

(JNCC) to consider if anymore areas need protecting.

References

External links

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