Marine Protected Areas

(asked on 22nd June 2020) - View Source

Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps he is taking to ensure the effectiveness of the UK’s offshore marine protected areas.


Answered by
Rebecca Pow Portrait
Rebecca Pow
Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
This question was answered on 30th June 2020

Marine protection is a devolved matter and the information provided relates to England only.

One of Defra’s biggest challenges in seeking to ensure effective management of offshore Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) has been the need to secure the agreement of other countries through the Common Fisheries Policy process. This requirement will end when the Transition Period has finished.

The Fisheries Bill proposes a new power enabling the Marine Management Organisation (MMO) to implement fisheries management measures for conservation purposes both within our MPAs and more widely across English waters. The MMO will be able to use this power after the expiry of the Transition Period.

Activities within MPAs that require planning or licensing consent are assessed by the relevant regulator, including the MMO, to prevent damage to these designated areas.

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