NFFO’s Dale Rodmell participated in 3 out of the 4 regional MCZ projects and closely works with the MPA Fishing Coalition. He gives his views on the current state of the Marine Conservation Zone planning process.
Carried on the back of a moral panic that our seas are on trajectory to destruction, the planning of Marine Conservation Zones (MCZs) in English waters has raced ahead at break-neck speed. As a result, it has often ridden roughshod over the careful analysis that is needed to take account of those groups of marine users who have derived their livelihoods from the seas for generations. The MPA Fishing Coalition (MPAC) has therefore welcomed the recent decision of the Minster to relax the MCZ timetable and designation process and give a greater focus to the evidence base (MPA Fishing Coalition Welcomes Minister’s Revised MCZ Timetable).
There is in fact growing evidence that the our seas are far from the path to destruction that the doomsayers claim, but are on an improving trend; and without any contribution from a huge network of marine protected areas. In particular, the diversity of demersal fish in UK waters has improved noticeably over the last five years and a progressively increasing number of stocks are being fished sustainably1. There is no reason to suggest this trend will not continue
