Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what estimate his Department has made of the number and area of marine protected areas established beyond national jurisdiction through regional seas agreements or other instruments.

The Foreign and Commonwealth Office is aware of eight Marine Protected Areas that have been established beyond national jurisdiction. One has been designated by the Commission on the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources and seven have been designated by the OSPAR Commission in the North-East Atlantic. The UK plays an active role in both of these organisations and is fully supportive of their work to establish networks of Marine Protected Areas in the Antarctic and the North-East Atlantic.