28 Feb 2023

Defra has today announced that the Government will designate the first three Highly Protected Marine Areas (HPMAs) in English waters. The three sites being taken forward are Allonby Bay (Irish Sea), Dolphin Head (Eastern Channel) and North East of Farnes Deep (Northern North Sea). The Government consulted on five pilot sites last year, receiving over 900 responses. […]

28 Feb 2023

The High Court has given permission for a hearing to take place on whether the government’s plan for reducing sewage dumping is too lenient in what could potentially be “the most consequential environmental law case in recent history” according to the non-profit supporting the case, reported in New Civil Engineer.     Defra released the Storm […]

28 Feb 2023

Five million seagrass seeds will be planted off Wales’ coast to create climate change-fighting underwater meadows. On Wednesday, 50,000 were laid at Penychain off the Llŷn Peninsula in Gwynedd. A news story on the BBC website said that Seagrass Ocean Rescue wants 10 hectares (25 acres) of seagrass meadow by 2026. WWF Cymru’s Rory Francis said Wales had […]

28 Feb 2023

An area roughly the size of Germany is set to be added to Australia’s protected marine zones, safeguarding the future of millions of penguins, seals and sea birds on Macquarie Island. The remote and rugged island, halfway between the main island of Tasmania and Antarctica, hosts up to 100,000 seals and 4 million penguins, including […]

28 Feb 2023

The Marine Protected Areas (Prohibited Methods of Fishing) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2022 came into operation from 1 January 2023, prohibiting demersal mobile gear (bottom-towed) in nine inshore MPAs, alongside management of pot fishing activity. A collection of Northern Ireland organisations including DAERA, AFBI, environmental NGOs and the fishing industry have come together to discuss fishery […]

28 Feb 2023

French company TotalEnergies, in partnership with Simply Blue Group, has secured a marine licence for Wales’ first floating wind farm. The 100MW Erebus project is owned by Blue Gem Wind, a joint venture between TotalEnergies and Simply Blue Group. Located approximately 40km off the Pembrokeshire coastline, the wind farm is planned to have seven 14MW […]

28 Feb 2023

Ocean fisheries experts Daniel Pauly and Rashid Sumaila have been awarded the 2023 Tyler Prize for Environmental Achievement, referred to as a “Nobel Prize for the environment,” in recognition of their scientific achievements. Pauly and Sumaila, who are colleagues at the Institute for the Oceans and Fisheries at the University of British Columbia (UBC) in […]

23 Feb 2023

As reported in the Guardian, a major mapping project has revealed PFAS has been found at high levels at thousands of sites across the UK and Europe. An excerpt from the full article is below. Pollutants known as “forever chemicals”, which don’t break down in the environment, build up in the body and may be […]