Latest Greenpeace UK report Bright Blue Seas examines progress with UK offshore MPAs
To assess the condition of the UK’s offshore MPA network, Greenpeace UK collated assessments of each offshore MPA’s progress towards conservation targets as listed on the JNCC MPA listings, which hold the most up to date public information on each MPA. Out of the 73 UK MPAs which are entirely or partially in offshore UK waters, just five ‘may be’ moving towards or achieving their conservation targets based on the condition of the protected features at the time of initial vulnerability assessments or initial site condition monitoring; 21 are unlikely to be moving towards conservation targets and there is no information on progress towards their conservation target of the remaining 47 offshore MPAs. Just two of the 73 MPAs with offshore waters have long-term site monitoring; North-West Orkney and Skomer, Skokholm and the Seas off Pembrokeshire.
Greenpeace conclude that “this investigation shows that the UK’s offshore MPAs are a collection of paper parks, lines drawn on a map and announced with much fanfare, but with little management or regular site condition monitoring to ensure they are progressing towards their conservation targets”.
The report also describes the scale of fishing by supertrawlers in offshore MPAs as described in a previous edition of CMS news. Click here