Christmas reading and watching. The Environmental Audit Committee get its MPA review underway.

JNCC’s advice on offshore Marine Conservation Zones 2015-2017

Assessing progress towards an ecologically coherent network of MPAs in Secretary of State Waters

In 2014 Defra commissioned JNCC to undertake a piece of work on ‘Assessing progress towards an ecologically coherent network of MPAs in Secretary of State Waters’. The analysis considered the progress of the Marine Protected Area network and those remaining MCZ site options that would fill any remaining gaps in the existing MPA network around England and offshore waters of Wales & Northern Ireland, assuming all sites and features going to be consulted during the 2015 Tranche Two MCZ consultation as being designated. This analysis was a follow on piece of work to the advice given to Defra in 2013 on how the remaining recommended MCZ (rMCZ) site options could help fill ‘big gaps’ in the existing network of MPAs around England and offshore waters of Wales & Northern Ireland (report available here). This work was undertaken in order to help assist further future decisions on filling any remaining gaps in the MPA network within Secretary of State waters, once a second tranche of sites were designated. The report for the analysis can be downloaded from the document download box at the bottom of this page. Click here to read more and download five reports supporting this work