MCZs England 

The Government is considering 23 sites for designation in the second tranche of MCZs around the coast of England.

The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) is considering 23 sites for designation this year in the second tranche of English Marine Conservation Zones (MCZs). Defra published their consultation on 30 January 2015 stating "following consideration of responses to this consultation, Ministers will make decisions on which sites to designate." A third tranche is expected to follow in 2016 to complete the English component of the UK's contribution to a network of marine protected areas in the north east Atlantic.

Although potential management scenarios have been included in the consultation, management measures won't be decided until after designation. Defra have confirmed that following designation "regulators will review activities at site level and consider what management may be necessary to achieve the objectives of the site. When an MCZ is designated it does not automatically mean that economic and recreational activities in that site will be restricted. Decisions will be taken on a case by case basis, and management will not be put in place for activities which do not have a detrimental impact on achieving the conservation aims of the MCZ".

How is the RYA responding?

The RYA submitted a detailed and robust response to the public consultation on the first tranche of MCZs and is now developing its response to the second tranche of sites. We have already begun to gather socio-economic data though our clubs and regions and will submit this in response to Defra's call for additional stakeholder evidence. Our response to the consultation will build upon the RYA's Position on Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) and our engagement on MCZs over the past six years.

What are the RYA's views?

The RYA supports the UK and Devolved Governments' shared vision for clean, healthy, safe, productive and biologically diverse oceans and seas and believes that, in most cases, this vision can be achieved without any adverse impact on either the public right or the safety of navigation for recreational boating.

The RYA's primary objectives of engaging in the MCZ consultation process are to protect the public right of navigation and to ensure, as far as possible, that recreational boating interests are not adversely affected by the designation of such MCZs.

You can read more about the RYA's views on the second tranche of MCZs here.

How can you get involved?

At a national level, the RYA will focus on issues of safety of navigation and protecting recreational boating amenity, ensuring consideration of socio-economic impacts. The RYA will also make representations in relation to specific sites where there is a potential risk to boating activities.

During the consultation period the RYA will be working closely with its regional network of volunteers to ensure that the interests of its affiliated clubs and members are reflected in its response.

However, the public consultation is open to everyone who wishes to respond and the full consultation document, together with instructions on how individuals can submit comments, is available online.

More about the background of MCZs

MCZs, together with other types of designations, are being put in place to deliver the requirement for the Government to establish an "ecologically coherent network of marine protected areas". MCZs are being designated in English inshore waters and offshore waters adjacent to England, Wales, Northern Ireland and Scotland. Additional Special Areas of Conservation (SACs) and Special Protection Areas (SPAs) are also to be designated across the UK.

This network of marine protected areas is intended to be a collection of sites that work together to provide more benefits than an individual protected site could on its own.

How were they first chosen?

In England, at the start of the process in 2008, the MCZ project was split into four regional projects: Finding Sanctuary in the south west, Balanced Seas in the south east, Net Gain in the North Sea and the Irish Sea Conservation Project. These regional MCZ projects worked with sea users and interest groups to identify MCZs and then provided recommendations for sites within their regions to Government in 2011.

Since then, Government has considered these sites, gathered more evidence and sought the advice of their conservation advisors Natural England and the Joint Nature Conservation Committee. The first tranche of MCZs were designated in English inshore and offshore waters in 2013.

What about management measures?

Management measures are the tools used to protect the features (e.g species and habitats) within an MCZ and could be voluntary or statutory. These protection measures are a big area of concern for sea users as they could restrict existing activities. The RYA has been engaged on this topic at a national and regional level for many years and discussions are on-going regarding how MCZs will be managed and what activities are likely to be affected.

The RYA has responded to Government throughout the designation process emphasising our view that there needs to be sound, objective and robust evidence to support the requirement for any management measure before it can be implemented, and that measures should be subject to regular review once in place to make sure they are effective.

The tranche two Defra consultation states "management of activities which do not require a marine licence, such as commercial fishing and recreation activities, are being introduced in a risk-based, phased approach, by relevant regulators (mainly Marine Management Organisation and Inshore Fisheries and Conservation Authorities), to ensure the species and habitats most at risk from damaging activities are protected first".

As management measures are to be decided on a case by case basis, the RYA has also been engaging on specific local issues such as potential restrictions on anchoring and mooring. As the process to refine potential MCZ locations and associated management measures continues we will take every opportunity to emphasise the importance of safe anchorages for recreational boaters.

It is worth noting that it is implicit within the Marine and Coastal Access Act 2009 that any protection measures may be contravened in an emergency (i.e. if necessary for the purpose of securing the safety of any vessel or for the purpose of saving a life) and this exemption will apply even in the event of the introduction of byelaws or orders to restrict anchoring or other activities in a particular location.

What are Reference Areas?

Reference Areas are highly protected Marine Conservation Zones where all extraction, deposition or human-derived disturbance is removed or prevented. These areas are intended to provide a better understanding of human impacts on the marine environment and give scientists a way to differentiate between the effects caused by humans and those arising from natural environmental factors.

Reference Areas are the most contentious aspect of the MCZ process for recreational boaters because activities which are considered potentially damaging or disturbing are very likely to be controlled or even excluded; this could include anchoring, mooring, mark-laying and "noisy" boating activities such as motor boating and personal water craft. The nature of the restrictions will be directly linked to the habitat or species which the Reference Area is established to protect.

It may be possible to introduce management measures to reduce harm to acceptable levels and thus enable certain activities to continue. Relevant examples for boating include provision of moorings to support restrictions on anchoring and seasonal speed restrictions to limit noise disturbance by motorised craft.

Reference Areas have not been considered for inclusion in either the first or second tranche of sites. Defra has commissioned a review into whether they are required from an ecological standpoint and if there is a legal basis for their implementation. The Centre for Environment, Fisheries and Aquaculture Science (Cefas) has been asked to carry out this review which will report to Defra in spring 2015.