13 Feb 2024

The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) is seeking feedback on policies to update guidance on Marine Protected Area (MPA) assessments. In July 2021, Defra consulted on best practice guidance for developing compensatory measures in relation to MPAs.  The UK government department are now consulting on draft policies to inform updated guidance using this […]

09 Feb 2024

A group of conservation organisations are calling on planners to work together to ensure that wildlife is protected in the Irish Sea. The ‘Ecological Considerations for Marine Spatial Planning in the Irish Sea’ report urges planners in all six nations bordering the Irish Sea to collaborate and cooperate “for the sake of nature”. The Irish […]

06 Feb 2024

A Marine Management Organisation (MMO) byelaw to protect valuable marine habitats and species in 13 English offshore marine protected areas (MPAs) will come into force on 22 March 2024. Following formal consultation in 2023 and an official announcement on 31 January 2024 as part of Government’s 1 year on Environmental Improvement Plan progress update, management measures […]

02 Jan 2024

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 […]

12 Dec 2023

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 […]

28 Nov 2023

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 […]

31 Oct 2023

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 […]