Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, how many of the UK's Overseas Territory Blue Belt marine protected areas have published and are implementing marine protected area management plans.

The UK's Overseas Territories Blue Belt initiative is on track to deliver over 4 million square kilometres of protected ocean during this year. Of the Marine Protected Areas which have been designated to date, St Helena and South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands have adopted and published Marine Protected Areas (MPA) Management Plans. The British Indian Ocean Territory has developed an internal conservation plan which guides activities. The South Orkney Islands Southern Shelf MPA, in British Antarctic Territory waters, is managed through the Convention for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources. Ascension Island and Pitcairn are in the process of developing their Management Plans, with the support of the Blue Belt team.