The Marine
and Coastal Access Act creates a new type of Marine
Protected Area (MPA), called a Marine Conservation Zone (MCZ). MCZs
will protect nationally important marine wildlife, habitats,
geology and geomorphology and can be designated anywhere in English
and Welsh inshore and UK offshore waters. More information on
Marine Conservation Zones is available on
Defra's website.
In English inshore and English, Welsh and
Northern Irish offshore waters MCZs will be identified through the
Marine Conservation Zone Project. In Welsh
inshore waters there will be a small number of Highly Protected
Marine Conservation Zones identified through the Marine Conservation
Zone Project Wales. Sites will be selected to protect not just
the rare and threatened, but the range of marine wildlife.
The management measures required within MCZs
will be decided on a site-by-site basis and will depend on what the
site has been designated for. In a similar way to protected areas
on land, there will be sites where some activities are not allowed
but others can occur, or where there are seasonal restrictions on
activities rather than a complete ban. Not all sites will need the
same management measures and there is no presumption that any
specific type of activity will be restricted. There may however, be
some sites where many activities are restricted.
The Marine Conservation Zone Project has
produced a factsheet on the
management of fishing activities within MCZs identified in
English inshore and English, Welsh and Northern Irish offshore
waters.
