Following the success of highlighting the issues of unsustainable fishing practices, Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall last night launched his new ‘Save our Seas’ campaign. This campaign moves beyond fish and highlights the need for better protection for the marine environment through a network of marine protected areas (MPAs) across the world’s oceans and seas. Hugh’s programme highlighted the benefits for those fishing outside MPAs through increased catches because stocks are able to replenish themselves from within the protected area.
The RSPB has long been a champion for MPAs throughout the UK (and globally) – we fought for years to get legislation passed in England, Wales and Scotland that would give greater protection for our marine environment and we are now calling for an ecologically coherent network of MPAs to be designated and managed to protect the full diversity of marine wildlife. Such sites would protect important wildlife by ensuring activities that might damage them are properly controlled, and if necessary, excluded, while allowing effective management to take place of non-damaging or sustainable activities.
Hugh’s new ‘Save our Seas’ campaign couldn’t be more timely as his cause highlights the desperate need for MPAs just as the Government is consulting on a suite of sites called Marine Conservation Zones or MCZs, in the waters around England.
However, we are extremely worried about the lack of ambition in the current consultation in English waters and that none of the processes to identify MPAs (in England, Wales and Scotland) will deliver protection for the important areas used by seabirds at sea for feeding, etc. And in Northern Ireland, we are still campaigning for the legislation (through a Marine Act) to designate MPAs.
For this reason, the RSPB will continue its campaign for the better protection of the marine environment and especially its seabirds for the coming year, with actions targeted at the relevant governments. This is significant step towards better marine conservation in the UK and we need your help to convince the four UK governments to make a difference. If you are interested in supporting us, please sign up to this‘Safeguard our Sealife’ blog for updates. Our next action, in early March, will focus on the current MCZ consultation in England, with future actions focussing on the consultation in Scotland later in the summer, with timetables yet to be determined in Wales and Northern Ireland.