Time to get involved

THE UK is awash with plans to establish marine nature reserves and conservation zones all around the country. Its Marine and Coastal Access Act has established four teams to identify conservation zones to protect seas around the coasts.

Finding Sanctuary is the project investigating the south-west, one of the richest and most important areas of the UK.

The Marine Conservation Society has proposed 73 sites around Britain, all of which are the subject of consultation.

Five sites have been suggested for the Channel Islands, sadly none in Guernsey. Three are around Sark – Guillaumesse, the Gouliot Caves and L'Etac.

Alderney's Les Etacs (the Garden Rocks) and L'Islet, Bouley Bay, Jersey, are the other two.

Why our own wonderful Lihou with its surrounding waters and adjoining Ramsar site has not been proposed, nor the Humps north of Herm, nor Belle Greve Bay, I do not know.

But we should be suggesting these places before the consultation process goes too far. There is a section on the MCS site to nominate more sites – www.yourseasyourvoice.com/mpa/?region=4 – which readers might like to examine.

What a dream come true it would be if the States was to add its input to the project and designate a conservation zone (or two?) off an area of our coast.

The publicity would be terrific and such a zone would pin our conservation colours firmly to an internationally visible mast.

The aims of conservation zones are to provide reservoirs for wildlife, including important fish stocks, to spawn and propagate.

From the improved and protected habitats it is hoped that fish and other marine life will spread into areas where exploitation of our dwindling marine life will continue.

Natural England, which advises the government on the natural environment, welcomes the act.

'At last we have a mechanism for safeguarding threatened marine ecosystems and for managing the multiple uses of our seas,' said chief executive Dr Helen Phillips.

'They need to be sufficiently large, diverse and interconnected to address ecological needs, but they also need to function effectively alongside other uses of the marine environment.'

Project manager for Finding Sanctuary Tom Hooper says that the act paves the way for the protection of marine wildlife and its habitats.

'Our challenge in the south-west is to make sure these are protected while ensuring that people's livelihoods and leisure activities are sustained.'

The four project teams around the UK are working with groups such as sea anglers, fishermen and divers to build up an accurate picture of how the sea is used. They will identify conservation zones and provide recommendations for marine protected areas (MPAs) within their regions.

'The goal of the MPA network is to safeguard our region's undersea habitats and marine life, and to help ensure the long-term sustainability of marine resources in the region,' Finding Sanctuary says on its website.

'The MPA network, which will be carefully selected and planned, will help to improve the health of the natural environment, so that it can better support a profitable fishing industry and other commercial uses, as well as encourage thriving tourism and recreation industries.

'At the heart of the project is the aim to make the best decisions about where MPAs should be located, ensuring that they are based on the best available science with close involvement from stakeholders.'

It is a UK government scheme, of course, and as such resorts to much modern mumbo-jumbo such as stakeholders, project partners and sponsors.

What it boils down to, however, is that the scheme is backed by organisations such as the RSPB, Wildlife Trusts, the National Trust, three county councils, Joint Nature Conservation Committee, Defra, the Marine and Fisheries Agency and Natural England.

With such a variety of organisations talking to everyone with an interest – either commercial or recreational – in the areas under consideration, it will be a long procedure to reach consensus.

Here in Guernsey we have obvious advantages, with Environment responsible for the designation of MPAs and only a handful of interested bodies.

These would include shore-gathers, angling societies and commercial fishermen, all of whom stand to benefit from the establishment of marine reserves.