© Paul Naylor
Marine Protected Areas
What is a Marine Protected Area?
Marine Protected Areas are places at sea where certain environmentally damaging activities are restricted to protect marine wildlife.
In the UK, there are different types of Marine Protected Areas. Together these form a chain of protected areas around the coast which, once complete, are intended to protect a wide range of marine wildlife and the special places they call home.
Why do we need Marine Protected Areas?
Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) are like nature reserves at sea. They protect wildlife and habitats by reducing harmful activities, and they also benefit the surrounding sea, as growing wildlife populations spill out into the surrounding areas.
Designating an MPA is only the first step towards protecting the precious wildlife and habitats within. Active management is required to make sure our MPAs are doing the job for which they were created.
Lincolnshire’s coastal waters and the surrounding North Sea contain numerous designated marine sites, protecting a range of important habitats and species from harbour porpoises and migratory birds to biogenic reefs and sandbanks.
Types of Marine Protected Areas
Special Areas of Conservation & Special Protection Areas
These areas are designated under EU nature laws (the Habitats and Birds Directives) and are designed to meet specific conservation objectives for certain habitats and species. They are sometimes referred to as Natura 2000 sites.
Special Areas of Conservation (SACs)
Special Areas of Conservation (SACs) are areas which have been given special protection for their habitats and species. They provide increased protection to a variety of wild animals, plants and habitats and are a vital part of global efforts to conserve the world’s biodiversity.
Coastal and marine SACs in Lincolnshire include the Humber Estuary, the Southern North Sea and the Wash and North Norfolk SAC. Further information about SACs in England, including a full list of sites, is available on the JNCC website.
Special Protection Areas (SPAs)
SPAs are areas identified as of international importance for the breeding, feeding, wintering or migration of rare and vulnerable species of birds.
Coastal SPAs in Lincolnshire include Gibraltar Point, the Greater Wash and the Humber Estuary. Further information about SPAs in England, including a full list of sites, can be found on the JNCC website.
Marine Conservation Zones
Across the UK, each country has the power to create Marine Protected Areas to conserve nationally important wildlife and habitats. In England these sites are referred to as Marine Conservation Zones.
The UK Government designated the MCZ network through a phased approach and designated the first 27 sites at the end of 2013. A further 23 sites were designated at the start of 2016, bringing us up to 50 MCZs in English and Secretary of State waters. There has since been the designation of a third round of Marine Conservation Zones in 2019 consisting of 39 MCZs in English waters and further 2 sites designated in Northern Ireland.
Within the Southern North Sea, running from Yorkshire's Flamborough Head down to mid Kent, there are now 11 existing Marine Conservation Zones. At LWT we are involved in national consultations to put pressure on Government to ensure the marine environment has the protection it needs to thrive. We have put forward several sites in our local waters for future consideration for Marine Conservation Zones.
Taken together this network of 91 MCZs around the UK will go a long way in helping to protect and conserve important marine habitats and wildlife for the future. However, we need to make sure that these sites are managed correctly, to give our ocean wildlife the best possible chance of recovery.
Highly Protected Marine Areas
HPMAs are a new type of marine designation in England designed to allow marine life to recover, where all damaging activities, such as fishing, construction, digging and similar are banned. By giving special areas the best possible protection, they’ll benefit nature, people and the climate, too. We will call on the government to designate more Highly Protected Marine Areas so that we can achieve the goal of 30% of land and sea protected and in recovery by 2030.
Some of our Marine Protected Areas
Harbour Porpoise ©Niki Clear
Southern North Sea SAC
The Southern North Sea SAC is a large mainly offshore marine protected area established to conserve harbour porpoises and the habitats they rely on in UK waters. Stretching from the central North Sea north of Dogger Bank down to the Straits of Dover, the site provides important winter and summer habitat for an estimated 17.5% of the UK’s North Sea Management Unit population of harbour porpoise.
Sand eels ©Paul Naylor www.marinephoto.co.uk
Inner Dowsing, Race Bank and North Ridge SAC
The IDRBNR SAC is an offshore marine protected area located off the south Lincolnshire and North Norfolk coasts. The site protects a variety of sandbank habitats and biogenic reef, including reef structures formed by ross worm (Sabellaria spinulosa), one of only a small number of UK SACs designated for this feature.
Gibraltar Point SPA
The Gibraltar Point SPA is a coastal protected area located on the Lincolnshire coast at the southern edge of The Wash. The site includes sand dunes, saltmarsh, mudflats, freshwater marshes and lagoons that provide important feeding, breeding and roosting habitat for a wide range of migratory and overwintering bird species. Gibraltar Point forms part of an internationally important network of coastal wetlands supporting bird populations along the East Atlantic Flyway.
Gary Mantle
Greater Wash SPA
The Greater Wash SPA is a large marine Special Protection Area extending along the east coast of England from East Yorkshire southwards into Suffolk. It is designated to support significant breeding and non-breeding populations of seabirds and waterbirds, which use the waters for feeding during both summer and winter, including species such as red-throated diver, common scoter and little tern. The site also includes a range of marine habitats, including intertidal mudflats and beaches, as well as extensive shallow subtidal sands that support shoaling fish and form important feeding grounds for birds.