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1/8: I have a few things to say about this @NaturalEngland @DefraGovUK @scotgov @pow_rebecca : Marine protection sites: How did we get here and where do we go from here? https://naturalengland.blog.gov.uk/2020/12/03/marine-protection-sites-how-did-we-get-here-and-where-do-we-go-from-here/
2/8: First it is brilliant that @scotgov @nature_scot have today classified 11 new Special Protection Areas for seabirds in Scottish waters and, with @DefraGovUK @NaturalEngland, also classified a 12th in the Solway Firth. Real (and long-awaited) progress!
3/8: That said, this progress has been made under sustained pressure from @EU_Commission - are new watchdogs in England and Scotland going to be up to the job of taking over to drive the further work needed?? ...and there is a lot of further work needed!
4/8: In Scotland there are further sites which have long been stuck in the pipeline & while @ScotGov has now protected foraging areas for some of our internationally important populations of breeding seabirds, with the exception of tern and shags on the Scillies, England has not
5/8: And then there's the issue of management. This statement from @NaturalEngland is at best disingenuous: "marine areas of greatest importance to the UK’s breeding seabirds & non-breeding w'birds are effectively protected as part of the UK’s network of Marine Protected Areas".
6/8: An assessment of UK marine protected areas by @JNCC_UK found that: "Management measures
have only been fully implemented in 10% of marine sites, and only 13% of sites have full monitoring in
place" https://jncc.gov.uk/media/1970/chaniotis_et_al_2018_jncc_mpas.pdf ...
have only been fully implemented in 10% of marine sites, and only 13% of sites have full monitoring in
place" https://jncc.gov.uk/media/1970/chaniotis_et_al_2018_jncc_mpas.pdf ...
7/8: And more recent analysis by @GreenpeaceUK found that "Only five of the 73 UK offshore MPAs ‘may be’ progressing towards conservation targets, and only two out of 73 offshore MPAs have any long-term site condition monitoring available" https://www.greenpeace.org.uk/resources/bright-blue-seas-mpa-report/
8/8: So, progress on designation is great and absolutely welcome, but the job is far from done (hard for offshore wind developers to avoid areas yet to be mapped...) and designation alone does not equate to, and is thus far is failing to deliver "effective protection.
