A few months after giving evidence to the Environmental Audit Committee, our Head of Nature Policy Jeff Knott highlights the positive conclusions of the cross-Party group's enquiry into Marine Protected Areas.
Did you know today is World Penguin Day? I confess I didn’t and found out about it the way I usually find out about these World *fill in the blank* Days – via load of tweets and a hashtag on Twitter!
But it seems quite appropriate, as we’ve just seen publication of the Environmental Audit Committee’s enquiry report into Marine Protected Areas (MPA) in UK and UK Overseas Territories. It was a nerve-wracking day last December, when I sat down in front of a panel of MPs to give evidence to this enquiry, but fantastic to see much of what I said reflected in this report, published by a cross-Party group. The report recognises the importance of MPAs to secure a healthy future for the marine environment and sets out a roadmap to help recover the wealth of marine life found in UK and UK Overseas Territories’ waters, including our highly threatened seabird populations.
The UK is home to internationally important populations of seabirds and at this time of year they are coming to our coasts to breed and rear their chicks. Every year, just under eight million seabirds come to the shores of the British Isles to breed, creating one of our most spectacular wildlife spectacles in their seabird cities. But they spend only a fraction of their time on land and while their breeding grounds are protected, it is out at sea that they are facing their biggest threats and it is here they need protection. UK seabird populations continue to decline; between 2000 and 2008 an estimated 600,000 breeding birds were lost. The UK and Ireland support a large part of the world’s breeding populations of a number of seabirds, including 60% of the global population of great skuas, 70-90% of the world's Manx shearwaters and 68% of the world's northern gannets. There probably isn’t a group of birds that our country is more important for on a global scale.
And that importance goes up even further when you consider the UK Overseas Territories, which brings us back to World Penguin Day. The UK territories hold more penguins than any other country on earth, as well as over a third of the world’s breeding albatross – an amazing fact! These are some of the most threatened seabird species groups in the world, and marine protections are vital to protect these iconic species.
Well managed MPAs provide much needed protection for seabirds foraging out at sea, where they encounter threats from human activities and reduced availability of food due to climate change. MPAs offer safe havens for our seabirds to thrive away from threats and to build resilience. Without them, protections on land are just creating safe places to starve.
We are therefore glad that this cross-Party group recognises the important role a well managed network of Marine Protected Areas will play in reversing the decline of seabirds both in the UK and in the Overseas Territories.
In 2015 we were pleased that all parties had strong manifesto commitments to protect and restore a healthy marine environment. We hope the importance of achieving this for nature and coastal communities is reflected in manifestos for the June election, so that future generations can enjoy the unique experience of the UK’s great seabird colonies.