Following a period of consultation the MMO has published draft assessments and management measures for four offshore MPAs; the Dogger Bank SAC, Inner Dowsing SAC, South Dorset MCZ and The Canyons MCZ. The proposed bylaws include prohibiting the use of bottom towed fishing gear, including demersal seines and semi-pelagic towed gear through the whole of the Dogger Bank SAC and the South Dorset Marine Conservation Zone as well as parts of the other MPAs to protect the sandbanks, sublittoral reefs, including deepwater coral reefs, and sea-pen and burrowing megafauna communities.

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