What lies beneath... time running out to safeguard treasures under the sea

AMID all the recent debate as to whether mackerel should or shouldn’t remain on the menu, a fishy problem a little closer to home found itself in the shadows.

Last week, representatives from the Yorkshire Wildlife Trust headed to Westminster to hand over a petition calling for greater marine protection of UK waters. The document had attracted an impressive 250,000 signatures and it was received with the usual warm handshakes by Environment Minister Richard Benyon.

What there wasn’t was any firm commitment to push forward with legislation, which has now been on the table for more than three years, and environmental campaigners fear that if action is not taken soon, certain marine habitats and species may deteriorate to such a level that they will never recover. Time, they say, is running out and fast.

“When the Marine and Coastal Access Act of 2009 was introduced it really seemed that the tide was turning in our favour,” says Kirsten Smith, the trust’s North Sea marine advocacy manager. “However, since then we have hit a series of stumbling blocks and every time decisions are postponed our marine life is put in further jeopardy.”

Currently only two per cent of the UK sea has any protection and less than 0.001 per cent is considered fully protected. The Act was supposed to vastly increase the protected area. Within three years of its introduction ministers not only promised an ecologically coherent network of Marine Protection Areas around the coast but also pledged to usher in a brand new classification.

Marine Conservation Zones were supposed to offer even greater protection to areas of marine importance and all that remained was to pinpoint the exact locations.

In all 127 zones were identified, including seven in Yorkshire, and it seemed that it was just a question of time before the recommendations were rubber-stamped by the Government. However, at the last minute, the goalposts were changed and it meant less than a quarter of the planned zones and none off the Yorkshire coast met the new criteria.

“Initially, the areas in need of protection were to be identified 
 by ‘best available evidence’, but then suddenly the Government raised the bar and insisted on peer-reviewed research,” says Kirsten. “Marine studies are costly both in terms of time and money and it pulled the rug out from under many of the proposals. The really frustrating thing now is that across the country a further £5m has been spent getting the necessary evidence and not only has it still not been considered by the Government, but they haven’t even given us a timetable for when it will be.”

One of the stretches of water which the trust is determined to see protected is that which lies a few miles off the Holderness Coast. There the seafloor provides a mosaic of habitats and is home to significant populations of crustaceans, including edible crab and common lobster.

To the south of the site harbour porpoise, grey and harbour seals are regularly seen foraging for food, but lack of official protection has meant the future of the area has already been threatened.

“In spring, the waters have attracted Scottish trawlers dredging for scallops. Last April we saw around 20 trawlers a day for three weeks in that particular stretch, ripping up the seabed. It was the equivalent of a farmer ploughing his fields eight times a year.

“We know that claws were pulled from young crabs and that the lobster population was affected, what we don’t know is the extent. It will become much clearer throughout this year and next how much the stocks have been damaged, but the real fear is that the trawlers will come back again this spring and do even more damage.

“They churn up the seabed and that means filter feeders which get their nutrients from taking in water find their systems are clogged up with silt and sand. When that happens, the sad truth is they die.”

The metal dredgers have also wrecked equipment belonging to local crab and lobster fisheries and the Wildlife Trust insists that far from pitching environmentalists against the fishing industry, the introduction of protection zones would be mutually beneficial.

“Last year Members of the Holderness Fishing Industry Group policed the waters themselves and attempted to negotiate with the incoming trawlers, but every hour dredging goes on marine life is potentially being damaged,” says Kirsten. “There is recourse to emergency bylaws, but the evidence can be difficult and time-consuming to amass and any ban is, by its nature, only temporary.”

Mike Cohen, head of the HFIG has been a vocal supporter of protection zones and there is a growing body of evidence from overseas that they don’t just maintain existing levels of marine populations, but can help to reverse the decline of specific species. However, in countries like Australia and New Zealand, which have enjoyed protection for a number of years, the key has been an entire network of zones over a large area.

“Imagine you have a lovely area of woodland and you 
allow someone else to build a series of roads around it. It just doesn’t work,”says Jess Bersey, living seas officer at the Wildlife 
Trust. “Eventually the animals 
and plants will be adversely affected.

“In the sea, because of the current, populations are even more fluid. It is no good just having a few protection zones scattered around the coast. They need to be regular and they need to be close enough together so that populations can migrate.”

Out of the original list of 127 suggested zones, the Government initially earmarked 31 to be introduced in the next 12 months. However, not even those are now certain to become a reality and following the results of a public consultation which still has another two months to run, the picture could change yet again.

“We have to get this right,” said Richard Benyon when he called for interested parties to make their views heard. “Designating the right sites in the right places, so that our seas are sustainable, productive and healthy, and to ensure that the right balance is struck between conservation and industry.”

It’s a view to which most would happily subscribe, but those, like Leeds Central MP Hilary Benn, who were instrumental in laying the foundations of the 2009 Act, have become frustrated by the length of time it has taken to see results. “I brought the Act to Parliament when I was Environment Minister and there is a lot of disappointment nationally about the lack of action. It is vitally important that we get all of the zones put in place because there is extraordinary marine diversity underneath what appear to be murky waters. We really must protect the wonders which lie beneath the sea before it is lost for ever.”

The Wildlife Trust is now calling on the public to register their views at www.wildlifetrusts.org/haveyoursay and insist that all is far from lost.

“It is easy to get caught up in the negatives, but a few years ago there wasn’t even a Marine Act, so we have moved forward,” adds Kirsten. “The Government has already spent a lot of money in this process so I am cautiously optimistic that they won’t allow that investment to be wasted and that eventually all the zones identified will gain proper protection.”

A magnificent seven to celebrate

Runswick Bay: Home to kelps and red seaweeds, as well as sea squirts, sea urchins and starfish.

Compass Rose: Spawning ground for fish, including plaice, herring, lemon sole, sandeels and sprat.

Castle Ground: During the winter supports 50 per cent of the English purple sandpiper population and is important for foraging seabirds.

Flamborough No Take Zone: Home to sand mason worms, razorshells and harbour crabs.

Holderness inshore: Home to eight species of crab and important for seabirds.

Holderness offshore: Area significant for crustaceans, including edible crab.

Markham’s Triangle: Rich in sand eels, a main food source for grey and harbour seals as well as harbour porpoise.