By Sharon Thompson, Senior Marine Policy Officer
In April, the Parliamentary Science & Technology Select Committee published it hard hitting Marine Science report.
The Committee’s report contains some strong messages to Government, in particular on the lack of ambition for Marine Conservation Zones (MCZs) in England and the importance of data and monitoring.
From the RSPB’s perspective, the report’s recommendations supported our views that more needs to be done by Government if MCZs are going to better protect sealife and seabirds. See our views on the report and recommendations in our blog from April.
Last week the UK Government published its response to the report. This response does very little answer the Committee’s questions. And MPs have raised the concern that the MCZ process is stalling. And if MPs are worried, then so are we!
We very much welcome the statement made by the Chair of the Committee, Andrew Miller MP, said
“Our report called for the Government to set out a clear timetable for the Marine Conservation Zones process and a commitment to an end date by which an ecologically coherent network of marine protected areas will be established. This response fails to do so. We await the outcome of the Government’s consultation on the first group of possible Marine Conservation Zones with interest and we will be following up this work with the Minister to make sure the process is not delayed any further.”
It’s good to know that MPs are watching the UK Government and will be asking the Minister tough questions if the MCZ network is not forthcoming.