Suspicion is growing that UK marine reserves have been hijacked by commercial interests

Marinet reported on 20th July 2013 an announcement by the Welsh Government that it had decided following a public consultation not to proceed with the designation of any of the potential 10 Marine Conservation Zones (MCZsMCZ Marine Conservation Zone) which it had identified as suitable MCZMCZ Marine Conservation Zone candidates.

This public consultation was reported upon by a “Task and Finish Team” established by the Welsh Government.

The Welsh decision was particularly significant because of all the MCZ identification procedures being carried out by the separate governments in the UK (England, Wales and Scotland), the Welsh procedure was the only one that intended to create genuine no-take (highly protected) marine reserves.

The 10 candidate Welsh MCZs were all in this category, and the Task and Finish Team observed that “if any of the proposed sites were designated they would receive a high level of protection where all the habitats and species within the zones would be protected from all extractive, depositional, damaging or disturbing activities. ”

The failure of England to designate any highly protected sites, even as candidates for consideration, is a matter that Marinet has much regretted, Marinet having recommended this strongly to Defra in March 2013. The decision now by the Welsh Government to also abandon plans for no-take (highly protected) marine reserves, due to commercial pressure, is equally depressing.

Marinet believes this is depressing because this decision, and the views upon which it is based, appear so profoundly ignorant.

Whilst Marinet cannot be certain because the precise views have only been “summarised” and not published, it does appear that influential sections of the fishing industry believe that to create no-take reserves will severely hamper their members’ right to fish, and lead to a loss of income. This is, in Marinet’s opinion, a profoundly mistaken belief.

No-take marine reserves actually increase the amount of fish available to local fishermen because the reserves prevent the older fish, which are the most fecund and lay the most eggs, from being caught. Thus the breeding potential of fish in an area expand when fish populations are protected by no-take reserves because the increased populations within the reserves spills our over time into the surrounding area, thus increasing the number of fish available to be caught. And, all the while, the older fish and the breeding stock are protected from being “fished-out”.

So no-take marine reserves increase fish populations, and make the fishing industry stronger, not weaker.

This reality has been endorsed by a recent article in The Observer, 4th August 3013. The Observer reports: “Hundreds of species of fish and precious coastal habitats around Britain are in danger, scientists and conservationists have warned, because the government has not responded properly to plans for a network of marine conservation zones around the UK. This failure, they say, could blight our seas for decades. A government statement on the proposals is due in a few weeks’ time, but signs are that it will be muted and inadequate and will fail to save marine habitats from further devastation.

“At a stroke the government could rescue its damaged reputation on green issues, yet there is a high risk that it will squander it and the seas will continue their downward spiral for years to come,” said Callum Roberts, professor of marine conservation at York University.

He and other scientists have become increasingly concerned at the desperate plight of Britain’s seas.

“Fish such as skate and halibut once grew to be metres long and were common right up to the coast,” said Roberts. “Today, the skate hangs on only in a few places. Wolffish and conger eel have been depleted to the point of rarity, while angel sharks are now completely extinct in UK waters. Fan shells and oysters used to cover the seabeds around Britain, while pilchards and herring were also enormously abundant and sustained an armada of predatory birds, dolphins and whales. However, numbers have now dwindled to a scarcity that would horrify a 19th-century fisherman.”

Overfishing and pollution have played significant roles in this destruction. But the nation’s fleet of bottom-dredging trawlers is blamed most for the critical state of coastal waters. Their huge metallic claws, designed to catch scallops, also scoop up indiscriminate numbers of young fish, corals, seafans and other creatures. The trawlers also pulverise the reefs that offer protection for many species of fish and shellfish. “They create a wasteland wherever they trawl,” said Lissa Batey of conservation alliance the Wildlife Trusts.

The Observer reports that Prof. Callum Roberts was furious over ministers’ failure to commit. “The government claims that it cannot establish the full network [of 127 zones] that has been proposed because of insufficient scientific evidence. But this is just a misleading excuse. Other countries, such as the US and Australia, have developed world-leading networks with no more scientific evidence than we have. The strong suspicion is that they have caved in to the demands of the fishing industry, thereby hijacking a process that was democratic and inclusive, and turning it into business-as-usual capitulation to the strongest lobbyists.”

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