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Marine Protected Areas
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.
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 Project
The Marine Conservation Zone Project is being led by Natural England and the Joint Nature Conservation Committee (JNCC) to identify and recommend Marine Conservation Zones to Government.
Recommendations for Marine Conservation Zones (MCZs) have now been delivered through four Regional Projects covering south-west seas (Finding Sanctuary
), the Irish Sea (Irish Sea Conservation Zones), the North Sea (Net Gain) and south-east seas (Balanced Seas). The regional MCZ projects have worked with sea users and interest groups to identify these recommended MCZs.
Selecting MCZs
Natural England and JNCC provided advice on how MCZs should be selected. Advice on the process for selecting MCZs is set out in the Project Delivery Guidance: (1.08mb)
. Statutory advice on the criteria for selection of MCZs within the Project areas is set out in the Ecological Network Guidance: (2.4mb). Four groups of stakeholders, representing sea users and interest groups, used this guidance to develop their recommendations. You can view the recommended sites at www.mczmapping.org or on the regional MCZ project websites. Next, Natural England and JNCC will analyse the recommendations and provide advice to Government. will use these recommendations as a basis for selecting MCZs for designation.
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Further information on the MCZ Project
The first stage of the project has now been successfully completed and the regional MCZ projects have submitted the stakeholder recommendations for MCZs.
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Guidance and Advice about Marine Conservation Zones
Guidance, advice and information has been produced to help people understand the Marine Conservation Zone (MCZ) Project and to help the regional MCZ projects make recommendations for where possible MCZs might be located.
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The Marine Conservation Zone Project – Features Catalogue
Healthy seas, rich in marine wildlife, are not only important in their own right but contribute to our quality of life.
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Marine Conservation Zones interactive marine map
The Marine Conservation Zone Project (MCZ Project) is a partnership project working with people who use the sea for their livelihood or leisure to identify potential new Marine Conservation Zones.
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Natural England and JNCC have been requested by Defra to provide statutory advice on potential Marine Conservation Zones (MCZ) to fulfil the marine protected area policy. This will be undertaken by reviewing the recommendations made by the four regional MCZ projects.
