02 Sep 2025

Photo by Being Momentx   Sussex Wildlife Trust has launched a judicial review challenging the Marine Management Organisation’s decision to allow Brighton Marina to dump 100,000 tonnes of dredged sediment annually in a protected marine area for the next decade. Protected area “in name only” The charity argues the decision exposes “inadequate protection given to […]

19 Aug 2025

Photo by Nick Fewings   A significant gap has emerged in the UK’s fishing vessel monitoring system after a major supplier halted data transmission to authorities over an unresolved contract dispute, leaving an unknown number of under-12 metre vessels untracked. Succorfish stopped forwarding positional data to the UK VMS Hub on 11th August, citing the […]

05 Aug 2025

Photo of Les Philpott (sourced from https://www.gov.uk/government/people/les-philpott)   Les Philpott has been appointed as the new Chair of the Marine Management Organisation (MMO), the UK government announced on July 30. His three-year term will begin on August 7, 2025. Philpott currently serves as Chair of the Government Actuary’s Department, Lead Non-Executive Board Member at the […]

29 Jul 2025

Photo by Ian Cylkowski   The Marine Management Organisation (MMO) has granted marine licences for several pioneering projects aimed at protecting and enhancing England’s marine environment. The approved initiatives range from habitat restoration and biodiversity enhancement to renewable energy development and critical infrastructure upgrades. New habitat structures to boost biodiversity in Teesside The Tees Rivers […]

03 Jan 2023

The Annual Report and Accounts provides detail on the Marine Management Organisation (MMO), including purpose, the key risks faced in achieving objectives, and how they have performed during 2021/22. Commenting on the report and performance during 2021/222, Tom McCormack, MMO’s Chief Executive Officer, said: “MMO has supported our customers and stakeholders with the delivery of […]

25 Oct 2022

The Marine Management Organisation (MMO) has issued a marine licence to the Virgin Orbit satellite launch project.     Virgin Orbit proposes to conduct a maximum of one launch in 2022 and approximately two launches per year over the next 8 years (January 2023-December 2030) from its base in Cornwall. The consultation on the marine […]

15 Mar 2020

The Marine Management Organisation public consultation on the latest round of marine plans, published in January, is now moving towards its final stages. Apart from the draft documents there are webinars of Q&A on each of the plans and a national Webinar to get more background information. Have your say on the draft plans for […]

09 Aug 2016

The MMO is opening up its data for other people to re-use. Open government data helps governments be more transparent, supports business, academics and the third sector. Access to MMO data is available via the www.data.gov.uk website.