The government of United Kingdom has announced the designation of fifteen new Marine Protected Areas around the UK coast. The Marine Conservation Society (MCS) is delighted after the announcement and says that further protection is still necessary if the seas are to be given a chance to fully recover after decades of mis-use and bad management. Based on scientific evidence, the latest protected sites have been selected. Protecting such sites mean protection to habitats like reefs, sea caves and sandbanks where marine life thrives.
MCS Senior Policy Officer, Melissa Moore told that the announcement of new protected areas are an important step by the Government towards their commitment to produce a full network of Marine Protected Areas by 2012, a deadline that the UK must not let slip to 2016, as is being discussed by Ministers at the North-East Atlantic Environment Summit in Bergen next month. She added that the current year is the International Year of Biodiversity and an opportunity to firm up commitments to conserving our seas, not detract from them.
The Marine Conservation Society is running an online voting website to allow the public to have their say on where Marine Protected Areas should be. MCS has selected 73 sites around the UK coasts chosen to protect rare and threatened species and habitats from over 20 years of dive surveys by volunteer divers.
