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. After listening to the responses, and with further consideration of socio-economic impacts, two sites – Lindisfarne and Inner Silver Pit South – will not be taken forward to designation.

Lindisfarne

In a letter to Berwick-upon-Tweed MP Anne-Marie Trevelyan, Environment Secretary Therese Coffey revealed that the proposal for a Highly Protected Marine Area (HPMA) around Lindisfarne in Northumberland would not be progressing.

The letter from Dr Therese Coffey, Secretary of State for Defra referenced the representations Anne-Marie had made on behalf of her constituents and the demonstrable strength of feeling on the issue. Ms Coffey said: ‘We recognise the strength of feeling surrounding the Lindisfarne proposal and are grateful for their views and evidence which the community so clearly shared with us.’

Photo: Chris Combe

Local fishermen warned they were worried about the future and in September local councillors said pressing ahead with the proposal would turn the area into a “museum”. The story has been covered in the Daily Mail, Chronicle, Northumberland Gazette and the BBC.

Ms Trevelyan said: “I want to thank everyone who has worked so hard to reverse this decision…….I also want to thank the ministers in Defra who have listened to us all and have held their hands up and realised this wasn’t the right location for the trial. I know they are looking forward to hearing somewhat less from me in the coming weeks.”

Pilot HPMA proposals for England reduced to three

Defra launched the consultation on five HPMA sites in July 2022, which followed an independent review to examine whether and how the strongest protections for areas of sea, HPMAs, could be introduced. The Benyon Review into HPMAs, published in June 2020, concluded that “HPMAs are an essential component of the MPA network”.

Along with Lindisfarne, the Inner Silver Pit South off the coast of Lincolnshire was also no longer considered suitable for HPMA designation. Defra said that HPMAs will enable nature to fully recover by removing all harmful activities including fishing, construction and dredging, increasing marine biodiversity and supporting climate-resilient ecosystems to thrive. 

Five pilot sites considered ‘the bare minimum required’

The Benyon Review panel noted that ‘one of the conditions set for the Review was to recommend a maximum of five pilot sites. The Panel considered this to be the bare minimum required to evidence the success of HPMA introduction’.

Defra has provided detail on the three remaining sites to be designated:

• Allonby Bay contains ‘blue carbon’ habitats that capture and store carbon. The site also contains honeycomb reefs and blue mussel beds which can provide water purification and important protection from coastal erosion. Nursery and spawning habitats for a range of commercial species including cod, plaice, sole and herring will also be protected.
• Dolphin Head has been degraded following impacts of human activity so the Highly Protected Marine Area presents an opportunity to fully recover habitats and species. It will help protect the feeding and nursery grounds of many important commercial fish species such as cod, herring, plaice as well as ecologically important habitats such as ross worm reefs.
• North East of Farnes Deep has high levels of biodiversity. The large areas of muddy habitats are important for the storage of carbon as well as for a range of species including birds, marine mammals and fish. This includes spawning and nursery habitats for up to ten commercially important species such as angler fish, surmullet, whiting and haddock.

Further sites to become pilot HPMAs during the year

The letter to Anne-Marie Trevelyan MP from Environment Secretary Therese Coffey ended by saying, ‘The government will be considering further sites to become pilot HPMAs during the year’ with Defra confirming that ‘additional sites will now be explored and any future options will also be subject to consultation.’

Further information and resources:

• The intention is to designate the three HPMAs before 6 July 2023, within a year of the consultation’s launch, in line with the Marine and Coastal Access Act 2009.

• The HPMA consultation outcome can be read here along with a summary of consultation responses.

• A policy paper on the rationale for HPMAs and an overview of the candidate site selectioncan be read here.

• The press release from Defra on the designation of three HPMAs can be found here.