P-04-415 Support for Designation of Highly Protected Marine Conservation Zones
P-04-415 Support for Designation of Highly Protected Marine Conservation Zones
Petition wording:
We endorse the Welsh Government’s policy to designate highly protected
MCZs and urge the Government to adhere firmly to that policy. We note the
pressures our seas are under, Wales’ failure to meet the 2010 biodiversity
targets and the robust scientific evidence of the need for much improved marine
conservation measures. We acknowledge
the strong global evidence for the benefits of highly protected marine
protected areas and anticipate comparable benefits to accrue in Wales following
designation of HP MCZs.In particular, we request that NAW strongly support
Skomer MNR, Wales’ only Marine Nature Reserve, which currently enjoys very
limited protection, being redesignated as highly protected when it becomes an
MCZ on commencement in Wales of the MCZ provisions of the Marine & Coastal
Access Act.
We have nowhere in Welsh waters that has been ever been fully protected
from direct human impacts. We need highly protected MCZs to: provide marine
wildlife with a few places it can exist and thrive unmolested by us - we do
this on land, there should not be a lower standard for the sea; enable marine
ecosystems to recover from direct human impacts and increase their resilience;
protect the marine ecosystem for the goods and services it gives us which we
cannot exist without; help us understand the effects of human pressures on the
marine environment and better understand what an unimpacted marine ecosystem is
like. The purpose of highly protected
MCZs is to safeguard and enhance the ecosystems within them, not simply fish
and shellfish populations.
Petition raised by: Blaise
Bullimore
Date petition first considered by
Committee: 2 October 2012
Number of signatures: 298
Business type: Petition
Reason considered: Senedd Business;
Decision due: 30 Sep 2012 by Petitions Committee - Fourth Assembly