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Posted: 2nd March 2023

Defra announces sites of Highly Protected Marine Areas
Fishing will be prohibited in HPMAs.
Wildlife will be protected from practices such as fishing and dredging.

Defra has announced the first three sites in England to be officially designated as Highly Protected Marine Areas (HPMAs).

Within these areas, anchoring, construction, dredging, and fishing will be prohibited to preserve natural habitats and the species which live in them. The areas will come into force by 6 July.

One of the HPMAs, Allonby Bay in Cumbria, will be on the coastline. The other two sites will both be offshore: North East of Farnes Deep, which is located in the North Sea approximately 55km from the Northumberland coast; and Dolphin Head in the English Channel, which is approximately 55km south of Selsey Bill, West Sussex.

Announcing the decision, secretary of state for environment, food and rural affairs Thérèse Coffey said: “These [HPMASs] will contribute to the government’s vision under our UK Marine Strategy for ‘clean, healthy, safe, productive, and biologically diverse ocean and seas’. They will increase the scope and protection of protected areas at sea and will allow sites to fully recover, increasing resilience to climate change.”

Lindisfarne and Inner Silver Pit South, both in the North Sea, had also been under consideration, but neither will now be designated due to the potential negative impact on communities and local economies.

The reduction in the number of planned HPMAs from five to three has drawn criticism from some charities and campaign groups. A report on HPMAs by Lord Benyon, first published in 2019, had recommend five pilot sites as the bare minimum.

Richard Benwell, CEO of Wildlife and Countryside Link, said: “Losing two out of five HPMA pilot sites is a major set-back and does not bode well for Government meeting its targets to effectively protect 30% of land and sea by 2030 and to ban bottom-trawling across marine protected areas by 2024.

“With only a few square miles of our seas currently protected from all damaging activities, the proposed Highly Protected Marine Area programme is an important new ‘gold standard’ of environmental protection. However, there are now only three pilot sites set for designation, when the Government’s initial review concluded that five sites would be the bare minimum for this important scheme.

“It is crucial that HPMAs work for wildlife and local people. Ministers must ensure that this vital programme now advances in a way which brings communities on side while offering much-needed protection for our struggling ocean and endangered wildlife.”



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