At a recent meeting in London the MPA Fishing Coalition raised important issues relating to the process of establishing a network of marine protected areas in UK waters. At the meeting Natural England announced that it will play no role in the design, implementation or enforcement of the management measures that will apply within marine conservation zones or the European Special Areas of Conservation once they have been designated.
Natural England’s public statements and attitudes during its expansionist phase, often gave the opposite impression. The Coalition has regularly criticised confusion in the way that Natural England has defined its role: sometimes advisor to government, sometimes sounding and behaving like an environmental NGO, and often assuming to itself the mantle of management decisions.
The whole question of the quality of the ecological science and information on patterns of fishing is an area of major concern for the Coalition to which to date, Natural England’s assurances seem hollow. Reacting to the Coalition’s charges Natural England confirmed that the changing science base is the main reason why it is re-consulting on a number of the European SACs previously notified.
