Lord Hunt of Chesterton – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Hunt of Chesterton on 2015-12-07.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the debate on the North Sea on 30 November (HL Deb, cols 1002–1024), whether they will provide definitions of the different types of Marine Protected Areas (MPA) in the UK’s coastal waters, the locations of those MPAs, of each type; and where new MPAs are to be introduced, to which type those belong.

Lord Gardiner of Kimble

The Marine Protected Area (MPA) network is made up of different types of designations, made under national law, EU directives and international agreements. As designation of MPAs is a devolved matter, Defra is responsible for designations in Secretary of State waters only, which are, English inshore and offshore waters, Northern Irish offshore waters, and Welsh Offshore waters, with responsibility for conservation in the latter proposed to be devolved to the Welsh Government in the Wales Bill. In these waters, the MPA network is made up the following types of sites.

• Marine Conservation Zones (MCZs), which are designated under the Marine and Coastal Access Act 2009. They protect marine habitats and species that are either typical of the life in our seas, or are rare or vulnerable.
• Two types of MPA can be designated under European legislation: Special Areas of Conservation (SACs), which protect habitats listed in Annex I and species listed in Annex II of the Habitats directive (92/43/EEC); and Special Protection Areas (SPAs), which protect birds listed in Annex I of the Wild Birds directive (2009/147/EC) and migratory species.
• Sites of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI), which are designated under the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981. These sites can be designated for either biological or geological interest.
• Ramsar sites, which are wetlands of international importance, designated under the Ramsar Convention. This includes marine areas with a water depth at low tide of less than six metres. Ramsar sites are generally also underpinned by designation as SSSIs.

Together, these sites contribute to the Blue Belt, a network of sites around the coasts of the UK, which forms our contribution to an ecologically coherent network of MPAs in the North East Atlantic.

We have already made good progress in designating a network of sites in the Blue Belt. Over 16% of UK waters and almost a quarter of English inshore waters are now within MPAs.

Based on current evidence the SAC network contribution for habitats can be considered complete. UK governments are considering advice on SACs for harbour porpoise, although no decision with regard to consultation has yet been taken.

Defra and the devolved administrations in the UK plan to complete the identification of SPAs for birds in the UK marine area during 2016.

Defra is seeking to fill the remaining gaps in the Blue Belt through two more tranches of MCZs. Details of this will be announced shortly. A map showing the existing network of MPAs in the waters for which the Secretary of State is responsible is attached.