The UK government has declared Dogger Bank one of four areas in UK waters that are not protected from destructive fisheries – and Greenpeace campaigners have warned that more needs to be done.
Regulations banning bottom trawling gear will be introduced into Dogger Bank in the North Sea, the site of a protest by Greenpeace, which throws boulders into the water to stop destructive fishing.
Regulations will also be introduced to protect marine reserves from destructive fishing activities on the south coast of Lincolnshire, South Dorset and Inner Dorset, Saipan and Northridge in the Gorge, more than 200 miles from the end of the Rand Home of the Cold Water Coral Reef, Cornwall.
trawling
Fiona Nicholls, marine campaigner at Greenpeace UK, said: “Since Greenpeace’s protective boulder barrier at Dogger Beach and the government’s commitment to stop bottom trawling in this iconic and ecologically important area It has been 18 months since the fishing.
“While this is an important step towards protecting some of the most environmentally important features of Dogger Bank, destructive industrial fishing vessels such as factory trawlers will still be allowed to plunder this now partially protected area.
“We need the government to get us on track this year with full or high protection of all of our marine protected areas.”
Melissa Moore, head of UK policy at conservation group Oceana, said: “Given conservation laws prohibiting destructive activities such as bottom trawling in marine protected areas, the government is finally taking steps to manage its 64 marine marine conservation areas. The first step of the four in the district, which is good news. .
challenge
“Oceana’s analysis found that in 2020, more than 68,337 hours of fishing time using bottom tow gear was spent in these marine MPAs.”
She said Oceana fully supported the Dogger Bank ordinance, which would protect the entire site and provide benefits to the North Sea ecosystem, but warned that the Nedausin MPA ordinance was “trivial” and would not protect the site.
She called on the UK and the devolved government to move quickly to ban bottom towing equipment in the remaining 60 offshore MPAs following a legal challenge by Oceana and others.
Other campaigners have also warned that more action is needed to protect the rest of the UK’s network of marine protected areas (MPAs).
Protect
Charles Clover, executive director of the Blue Ocean Foundation, said: “We are delighted that the government has finally begun to protect Dogger Bank and three other sites, which it promised a year ago.
“The Dogger itself is the size of the Bristol Channel, so protecting it from damaging activity is a huge and welcome precedent for protecting all of our UK offshore marine reserves, which used to be pretty much ‘paper parks’.
“This is the beginning of the wildization of the North Sea.”
He said the protections were the result of Blue and other groups’ legal campaign against the government’s violation of habitat protection laws by allowing bottom trawl dredging at more than 60 protected sites.
He fears the government’s new plan will relieve ministers of legal responsibility to protect designated areas.
this author
Emily Beament is the PA Environmental Correspondent.This article has been edited by a member ecologist Editorial team.
