Natural England - Marine Conservation Zones
Marine Conservation Zones
The Marine and Coastal Access Act (2009) created a new type of Marine Protected Area (MPA), called a Marine Conservation Zone (MCZ).
MCZs will protect nationally important marine wildlife, habitats, geology and geomorphology. The Marine Conservation Zone Project concerns the selection of MCZs in English inshore waters and offshore waters next to England, Wales and Northern Ireland. Sites will be selected to protect not just the rare and threatened, but the range of marine wildlife.
The management measures required within MCZs will be decided on a site-by-site basis and will depend on what the site has been designated for. In a similar way to protected areas on land, there will be sites where some activities are not allowed but others can occur, or where there are seasonal restrictions on activities rather than a complete ban. Not all sites will need the same management measures and there is no presumption that any specific type of activity will be restricted. There may however, be some sites where many activities are restricted.
MCZs, together with other types of MPA, will deliver the Government's aim for an 'ecologically coherent network of Marine Protected Areas'. This means the MPA network will be a collection of areas that work together to provide more benefits than an individual area could on its own.
The Marine Conservation Zone Project
The Marine Conservation Zone Project has been established by Defra, Natural England and the Joint Nature Conservation Committee to identify and recommend Marine Conservation Zones to Government.
The Marine Conservation Zone Project will be delivered through four Regional Projects covering the South-West, Irish Sea, North Sea and Eastern Channel (see map for the areas of sea the projects will work in).
They will work with sea users and interest groups to identify Marine Conservation Zones (MCZs) and provide recommendations for sites within their regions to Government.
Finding Sanctuary (South-West)
Balanced Seas (South-East)
The Joint Nature Conservation Committee have produced an information document on the project and more information about Marine Conservation Zones can be found on the Joint Nature Conservation Committee and Defra websites. New (March '10) MCZ Project meeting dates 
!
Natural England and JNCC are providing statutory advice on how MCZs should be selected within the MCZ Project area. This advice is set out in the Ecological Network Guidance and the regional stakeholder groups will use this guidance to develop their recommendations. Government will use these recommendations as a basis for selecting MCZs for designation in 2012. A draft version of the Guidance is currently available. A final version of the Guidance will be available in June 2010.