The Marine Conservation Society (MCS) is urgently calling for the UK Marine Bill, published today in draft, to be toughened up with measures and powers to establish a network of highly protected marine reserves where marine life is fully protected from damaging activities. MCS with British Sub-Aqua Club divers and UK aquaria representatives are today marching to the House of Commons to deliver 100,000 MARINE RESERVES NOW! petition signatures calling for government to commit to a network of Highly Protected Marine Reserves through the Marine Bill.

The draft Marine Bill heralds a new approach to managing our seas and protecting marine life including measures for marine planning, inshore fisheries reform in English waters, and protection of marine species and habitats. But, MCS, BSAC and other organisations are concerned that the Bill in its current form does not make a strong enough commitment to the establishment of an effective network of Highly Protected Marine Reserves, or provide the necessary powers for the relevant bodies to prohibit damaging activities, rather than just restrict or manage them.

‘The piece-meal management of existing so-called ‘protected areas’ such as Special Areas of Conservation does not adequately protect our valuable marine wildlife. Some of these sites allow practices such as scallop dredging, beam trawling, gillnetting and dredging to damage our marine environment” said Dr Jean-Luc Solandt, MCS Biodiversity Policy Officer, “We fear the proposals set out in the draft Bill will only repeat the errors of the past, with Government allowing short-term commercial interests to compromise much-needed long-term protection and sustainability. That’s why we are marching on Westminster today with our 100,000-signature petition. The UK Government must acknowledge that the British public supports the urgent need to implement a comprehensive network of Highly Protected Marine Reserves and let our over-exploited marine ecosystems recover.’

Statutory advisors on marine conservation (such as Natural England) currently don’t have the necessary powers to set up and restrict damaging activities inside present marine protected areas. Through the bill, MCS urges government to equip their conservation advisors with the powers to designate sites and control damaging activities – powers they have had on land since 1981. As a result of better protection on land, we have over 4,000 terrestrial protected areas in England for wildlife, whilst we have only three UK national protected areas at sea, where fishing, bait digging and angling is still allowed.

There is currently only one small highly protected marine reserve in the UK at Lundy Island, representing 0.00195% of our territorial seas. In order to ensure the recovery of our seas and marine wildlife from decades of over-exploitation, marine scientists recommend that at least 30% of our seas should be fully protected. Over 124 scientific studies from around the world have shown that marine reserves result in an average weight increase of 446% of wildlife from previously exploited areas, whilst the density of animals and plants increased by an average of 166%.

MCS believes that if government opts for weaker guidance on highly protected marine reserves, then the Marine Bill will do little more than rubber stamp business as usual with a sustainable development badge, as far as marine conservation is concerned. Dr Solandt continued:  By allowing potentially damaging activities to continue within management guidelines within areas that are identified as valuable to conservation and ecosystem integrity, government will simply slow the process of degradation rather than taking the vital action needed to allow our seas to recover and thrive for the future.

Kate Humble, Wildlife TV presenter has backed the MCS Marine Reserves Now campaign throughout and said: “I have personally witnessed the incredible benefits that Marine Reserves can bring to sea life and fisheries. Whilst Australia, New Zealand and the USA forge ahead with networks of Marine Reserves, we have just one. Yet our fisheries are in decline and the British marine ecosystem is deteriorating before our eyes. This is our fault. The Government must set up a comprehensive network of marine reserves. It’s the only way to get the health of our seas back on track.”

As well as generating significant public support, the MCS MARINE RESERVES NOW has also generated cross-party political support from Labour Minister Ben Bradshaw, Liberal Democrat MP Lembit Opik, Conservative MP Oliver Letwin, former deputy Prime Minister John Prescott, and former Environment Minister Elliot Morley, as well as celebrity support from the likes of Graham Norton and BBC Springwatch presenters Bill Oddie and Kate Humble. In Scotland, MCS is campaigning for a parallel Scottish Marine Bill to plug the devolved gaps that a UK Marine Bill will leave.

ENDS
Photo opportunity: Over 100 divers in dive gear will march across Westminster Bridge, to deliver over 100,000 petitions to the House of Commons, at Old Palace Yard (St Stephens Gate entrance) at 13:00 on Thursday 3rd April 2008.
For more information and photographs please contact:

MCS, Unit 3, Wolf Business Park, Alton Road, Ross-on-Wye HR9 5NB
Tel: 01989 566017  www.mcsuk.org

Editors notes
1. The Marine Conservation Society (MCS) is the UK charity dedicated to the protection of our seas, shores and wildlife.  MCS campaigns for clean seas and beaches, sustainable fisheries, protection of marine life and their habitats, and the sensitive use of our marine resources for future generations.  Through education, community involvement and collaboration, MCS raises awareness of the many threats that face our seas and promotes individual, industry and government action to protect the marine environment. MCS provides information and guidance on many aspects of marine conservation and produces the annual Good Beach Guide (www.goodbeachguide.co.uk), the Good Fish Guide and www.fishonline.org on sustainable seafood, as well as promoting public participation in volunteer projects and surveys such as Beachwatch, Adopt-a-Beach and Basking Shark Watch. See www.mcsuk.org.
2. The Marine Reserves Now campaign has collected over 101,677 signatures from the general public over 12 calendar months between March 8th 2007 and March 22nd 2008. 86,745 of these signatures were collected from UK aquaria, representing 85% of the total. 9,043 (9%) were collected from the online petition website www.marinereservesnow.org.uk.
3. The British Sub Aqua Club (BSAC) was established in 1953 as a club for divers and remains so today. As the Governing body for underwater activities in the UK, BSAC provides a training programme for divers and instructors and safety advice tailored to safe enjoyment of the sport in the UK and throughout the world. BSAC welcomes divers from all backgrounds and currently has more than 40,000 members and 1,200 branches in the UK and overseas, making it the biggest diving club in the world. www.bsac.com.
4. A survey carried out by the University of York in 2005 sent to 2,000 British citizens revealed that over 95% of respondents believed that over 20% of the seas should be in Highly Protected Marine Reserves. The actual figure of current HPMR in the UK stands at less than 0.002%.
5. The effectiveness of international marine reserves has been highlighted in a report by the Partnership for Interdisciplinary Studies of Coastal Oceans (2007). This consortium of 23 international marine scientists compiled a report which outlined the results from 124 research studies on the effects of marine reserves. PISCO (2007). The Science of Marine Reserves (2nd Edition, International version). www.piscoweb.org
6. UK behind rest of the world in designating Highly Protected Marine Reserves 33% of the Australian Great Barrier Reef has been designated as a Highly Protected Marine Reserves; New Zealand has 32 marine reserves; the USA in 2006 designated the largest Marine Reserve in the world covering an area of over 341,362km2; the Philippines has local laws requiring each community (equivalent to each English parish) to set up Marine Reserves. With so much international action and political commitment to use this effective tool to preserve ecosystems, the UK only has one tiny highly protected marine reserve – an area just 3.3km2 off Lundy Island in the Bristol Channel, representing a meagre 0.00195% of our inshore waters.  Many international and UK marine scientists recommend that 30% of our seas should be protected from any extraction or damaging activites to ensure sustainable use of limited resources [Royal Commission on Environmental Pollution, (2004) Turning the Tide: Addressing the impact of fisheries on the marine environment.]
7. The long  awaited Marine Bill will be published in draft on April 3rd, setting out Government’s proposals for measures to better protect our marine wildlife and habitats and ensure the sustainable management of our seas and resources.  MCS together with many other UK NGOs successfully lobbied Government and secured commitment to introduce a Marine Bill, which should be put to Parliament in Autumn 2008. The Marine Bill will be a once in a lifetime opportunity to improve the conservation and management of our seas.
NGOs including MCS, WWF, RSPB and The Wildlife Trusts believes that the Bill must include:
· Legislation to provide for the designation of a representative network of Nationally Important Marine Sites which must include a series of Highly Protected Marine Reserves;
· A duty bestowed upon the nature conservation authorities to set up and control damaging activities inside protected sites.
· Legislation that addresses the existing weaknesses and gaps in the management of inshore           fisheries,  strengthens the powers of the Sea Fisheries Committees, requires the adoption of a proactive,  precautionary ecosystem-based approach to fisheries management, and underpins this management with new, adequate and secure funding.
· A forward looking statutory marine spatial planning system, which enables better and more sustainable  use of the marine resource and appropriate protection of the natural and historic environment;
Scotland and devolution
MCS in Scotland is chairing a joint campaign for a parallel Scottish Marine Bill (see www.savescottishseas.org) since the Scottish Government controls most activities, - including marine conservation, fisheries, aquaculture and renewable energy - within 12 nautical miles (nm) and some activities – including fisheries and aspects of renewable energy development - to 200nm. The Westminster UK Bill must provide a management framework for reserved matters in UK waters, which must integrate with the forthcoming Scottish Marine Bill, already committed to by the Scottish Government. Work is already underway in Scotland to inform a consultation due in Summer 2008 for a Scottish Marine Bill. Since similar legislative measures may also be needed in Northern Ireland and Wales to plug any devolved gaps, the UK Government will need to work closely with all the devolved administrations as it frames the UK Bill.
For more information on the work in Scotland contact Calum Duncan, MCS Scottish Conservation Manager on 0131 226 6360 or email Scotland@mcsuk.org
Marine Conservation Society
Registered Charity Number (England & Wales): 1004005
Registered Charity Number (Scotland): SCO37480
Company Limited by Guarantee (England & Wales) No: 2550966