» Marine Reserves



N. Ireland Government announces four new Marine Conservation Zones

The Northern Ireland Government’s Dept. of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs has announced: Following a public consultation between December 2015 and March 2016, the Department for Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs (DAERA) Marine and Fisheries Division in Northern Ireland has designated four new Marine Conservation Zones (MCZsMCZ Marine Conservation Zone). The new MCZs are intended […]

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Marinet suggests that new discharge permits for Bradwell, Essex, would be unlawful

Marinet has made a submission, dated 4th December 2016, to the Environment Agency in connection with the public consultation on whether Magnox Limited, the owner of the decommissioned nuclear power station at Bradwell, Essex, should be allowed to discharge waste radioactivity, heavy metals and nitrates from its existing and new pipeline into the Blackwater estuary. […]

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Defra proposes a “tranche three” of MCZs, as Marinet questions their value

CMS Marine and Coastal News reports, 21st November 2016: The Government’s scientific advisors have provided proposals on where a final set of Marine Conservation Zones (MCZsMCZ Marine Conservation Zone) are needed around England. Leading marine conservation charities, the Marine Conservation Society and The Wildlife Trusts are excited about the plans, which are a positive step […]

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Scallop dredging in Cardigan Bay SAC to recommence, amidst continued opposition

The Welsh Assembly Government has announced, 31st October 2016: The Cabinet Secretary for the Environment and Rural Affairs, Lesley Griffiths, has announced new management measures for the Scallop fishery in Cardigan Bay following an extensive consultation. The consultation followed a two-year programme of wide-ranging research by Bangor University, in collaboration with the fishing industry, within the […]

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Fair Isle’s seas gain MPA status

Shetland News reports, 26th October 2016: The community of Fair Isle is rejoicing after a campaign lasting around quarter of a century has finally resulted in the waters around the island being designated as a marine protection area (MPA). Scottish environment secretary Roseanna Cunningham made the announcement at the Marine Conservation Society’s annual conference in […]

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Agreement on Antarctic marine park signed

The Guardian reports, 28th October 2016: More than 1.5m sq km of the Ross Sea around Antarctica will be protected under the deal brokered between 24 countries and the European Union. It means 1.1m sq km of it — an area about the size of France and Spain combined — will be set aside as […]

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Marinet submission to Environmental Audit Committee: Are MCZs being effectively delivered?

Marinet has submitted evidence, October 2016, to the House of Commons Environmental Audit Committee’s Inquiry into the delivery of MPAs (Marine Protected Areas). Marinet’s evidence may be seen in full here. A summary of the evidence submitted is as follows: The Marine and Coastal Access Act 2009 (MCCA) was poorly drafted by Government and is […]

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Will Russia agree to an international marine reserve in the Ross Sea and Antarctica?

The Guardian reports, 17th October 2016: An international agreement to protect some of Antarctica’s unique and pristine marine ecosystems could be reached within a fortnight, with scientists and conservationists hopeful of a breakthrough after five years of failed negotiations. Delegates from 24 nations and the European Union gathered in Hobart on Monday to commence two […]

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Very young fish prefer plastic over normal food, concludes Swedish study

Dogonews.com reports, 3rd September 2016: The fact that the increasingly large amounts of plastic debris in our oceans is ending up inside the stomachs of marine animals is well-known. However, experts had assumed it was because the creatures mistook the colourful floating debris for food. Now, a team of researchers led by Oona Lönnstedt, a […]

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UK announces intention to protect 4 million km2 of oceans

UK Press Release, Foreign and Commonwealth Office, 15th September 2016: Foreign Office Minister, Sir Alan Duncan, will today announce plans to double the area of ocean under marine protection around the UK Overseas Territories to around four million square kilometres — greater than the landmass of India. This will involve the permanent closure of an […]

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UK creates Pitcairn marine reserve : 3½ times the size of the UK

Pew Charitable Trust reports: The Pew Charitable Trusts joins the Pitcairn Island Council in praising the UK government for the designation of 320,465 square miles (approximately 830,000 square kilometres) as a marine reserve in the remote waters surrounding the Pitcairn Islands in the South Pacific Ocean. The announcement, 15th September 2016, by the United Kingdom’s […]

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IUCN’s World Conservation Congress calls for 30% protection of the oceans

The Pew Trust reports, 9th September 2016: The International Union for Conservation of Nature members have passed a motion calling for more marine reserves. The passing of this motion is a milestone for marine conservation and underscores the need to create more marine protected areas around the world. In a major win for marine life, […]

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US President expands Hawaiian marine reserve created by his predecessor

The Guardian reports, 27th August 2016: Barack Obama has created the world’s largest marine protected area by expanding an existing ocean reserve off Hawaii to cover 582,578 square miles, providing what’s likely to be the grandest, and final, chapter in the president’s conservation legacy. The sweeping move quadruples the size of the Papahānaumokuākea marine national […]

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Denmark is an obstacle to the protection of 69 threatened Baltic species, says Oceana

Oceana reports, 14th March 2016: Three years of work by 88 leading experts were effectively scrapped during the 37th Annual Meeting of the Helsinki Commission (HELCOM), held March 2016, when countries approved a heavily weakened version of a plan to protect and rebuild the most threatened Baltic Sea and Kattegat species. Oceana denounces Denmark as […]

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Malaysia establishes marine park of 2.5 million acres

The Guardian reports, 30th May 2016: Malaysia has just established the biggest marine protected area (MPA) in the country. The Tun Mustapha park (TMP) occupies 1m hectares (2.47m acres) of seascape off the northern tip of Sabah province in Borneo, a region containing the second largest concentration of coral reefs in Malaysia as well as […]

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Marinet continues to ask the Environment Agency whether the FED discharge permit at Bradwell, Essex, is legal

On 18th September 2015 Marinet wrote to the Environment Agency to query whether the Fuel Element Debris (FED) permit covering discharges of heavy metals, nitrates and radionuclides from the now decommissioned Bradwell nuclear power station into the Bradwell estuary, Essex, is legal. This letter of query sought to establish the legality of the procedures which […]

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Great Barrier Reef bleaching severest in its northern coral reefs

The Washington Post reports, 20th April 2016: The conclusions are in from a series of scientific surveys of the Great Barrier Reef bleaching event — an environmental assault on the largest coral ecosystem on Earth — and scientists aren’t holding back about how devastating they find them. Australia’s National Coral Bleaching Task Force has surveyed […]

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Studland Bay rMCZ has breeding seahorses, but MMO declines to regulate yacht mooring

BBC News, 11th April 2016, reports: Fresh calls have been made for “environmentally friendly moorings” to be used off the Dorset coast in a bid to increase seahorse population. The appeal by the Seahorse Trust comes after about 50 short-snouted seahorses were discovered recently off Bournemouth, which it described as “absolutely incredible”. In total, 20 […]

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Drone to patrol fisheries in Pitcairn Islands marine reserve

BBC News, 11th March 2015, reports: An ocean-going drone will be helping to spot illegal fishing in the world’s largest, continuous marine reserve. The UK said it would establish the 834,000-sq-km (322,000-sq-mile) zone around the Pitcairn Islands in the Pacific in 2015. The drone will patrol areas in the reserve designated as no-fishing zones. Data […]

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Greenpeace propose Marine Reserve to protect fragile Arctic area linked to fishing

The Guardian reports, 3rd March 2016: Major British food brands and supermarkets buying cod from Arctic waters risk having their supply chain “tainted” because of links with fishing further north in the Arctic, Greenpeace has warned. An investigation by the group has revealed that suppliers of cod to Birds Eye, Findus and Young’s are using […]

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