Government challenged to protect our seabirds
18 March 2008
A report published by the RSPB
highlights the urgent need for more work to be done to ensure the
increased protection of the UK's marine environment, especially for
seabirds, and lays down a challenge to Government to address this issue
urgently.
The report – Safeguarding our Seabirds:
Marine Protected Areas for the UK's Seabirds - states that although the
government says it is committed to marine protection, less than one
square mile in every 100,000 square miles of sea area has so far been
fully protected from all damaging activities. This tiny percentage
seems even less impressive when compared to the average of 30 per cent
that most scientific and experts agree would constitute reasonable
coverage for a network of marine protected areas.
Kate Tanner, a marine policy officer for the RSPB, and the report's main author, said: 'We have plundered the riches of the UK's
seas for centuries at great cost to wildlife. The sea has shaped our
islands' history, geography and culture, and now as time runs out for
marine wildlife it is crucial that we act decisively to protect the
environment that defines us.
'From basking sharks to barnacles, cod to cold-water corals, the UK's
seas contain an immense variety of threatened and beautiful wildlife.
Our seas also support huge populations of seabirds, with some species
occurring around the UK in larger numbers than anywhere else in the
world.
'The current extent of UK waters
fully protected from all damaging activities is like a teabag floating
on the surface of an Olympic-sized swimming pool – our marine wildlife
deserves far, far better than this!'
The importance of marine protected areas in the conservation and recovery of the marine environment cannot be overstated. The UK has made several commitments at both national and international levels to designate marine protected areas in UK waters.
Although some areas of
international importance for marine wildlife can already be protected
under European law, in order to offer our marine environment the full
protection that it deserves, it will also be necessary to protect areas
that do not qualify under European criteria, but which are 'nationally'
important. The Government must introduce legislation to provide a
strong framework for the designation, protection and management of
these nationally important marine protected areas too.
This report outlines initial work
done by the RSPB to identify over 70 nearshore sites around our
coastline that are of UK importance for seabirds
and are worthy of protection. No mechanism yet exists to protect the
areas that we have identified in this report, and therefore they
illustrate the additional benefit that bringing in new, domestic marine
site protection through the Marine Bill would give to the UK’s seabirds.
Graham Wynne, the RSPB's chief
executive, added: 'One of the main barriers to marine site
identification so far, and not just for seabirds,
has been the lack of recent and comprehensive data, and the difficulty
and expense of getting such data. With the imminent publication of the
Draft Marine Bill, we challenge Government to make the commitment
needed to resourcing the survey for and identification of a network of
nationally important marine sites.
<A href="http://www.rspb.org.uk/news/details.asp?id=tcm:9-185931"> Full article</A>
