The National Oceanography Centre (NOC), working with the University of Southampton and the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra), recently completed a Fully Autonomous Marine Protected Area Seafloor Survey. This survey will help us understand the suitability of using autonomous underwater vehicles for UK offshore marine monitoring and establish to what extent such systems […]
As part of the next stages for managing English offshore marine protected areas (MPAs), the Marine Management Organisation (MMO) has launched a call for evidence to support the assessment of fishing on harbour porpoise and marine bird MPAs. Photo by Robert Bye From 5 December 2023 to 13 February 2024 stakeholders, including fishers, environmental […]
New research highlights how the estimated 50,000 wrecks around the UK coastline are protecting the seabed. An estimated 50,000 shipwrecks can be found around the UK’s coastline and have been acting as a hidden refuge for fish, corals and other marine species in areas still open to destructive bottom towed fishing, a new study has […]
A major international conference on the Antarctic marine environment has failed to agree on new conservation areas despite hearing evidence the southern continent is facing a range of crises, including historically low sea ice levels, plummeting wildlife numbers and the first cases of bird flu. Longstanding proposals to create nearly 4m sq km of marine […]
Fair Seas has published the results of its first Ocean Literacy Survey which highlights that 76% of Irish people believe “lack of political will to protect or manage the ocean effectively” is the greatest threat to Ireland’s seas. Almost 1,300 people provided their views on their relationship with the sea and a range of issues. Some […]
More than half of the oil accidentally spilled by offshore oil and gas operations in UK waters over the past decade has ended up in marine protected areas (MPAs) meant to protect rare and threatened habitats and species, a Greenpeace Unearthed investigation has found. The Unearthed analysis of official data has found that over the […]
Dogger Bank, a sandbank in the North Sea was designated a marine protected area more than decade ago to conserve its sensitive seabed habitat. Yet for most of that time, industrial fishing vessels legally dragged damaging gear across the seabed, prompting NGOs to cite it as one of Europe’s emblematic “paper parks,” where the designation […]
A report published by the Marine Conservation Society has calculated the cost-benefit of banning bottom-contact fishing from the UK’s offshore Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) designated to protect seabed features. The analysis shows that initially, costs outweigh the economic gains of banning bottom-contact fishing gear. Costs include the loss of earnings by fishers, and the setting […]