NEW measures to protect the marine environment were announced by UK fisheries Minister Ben Bradshaw, during a visit to the marine reserve of Lundy Island, off the north coast of Devon today.

They include the first three of a network of marine conservation areas around the coast of England and measures to protect the biodiversity of Lyme Bay, following recent concern about the damaging impact of scallop dredging in the area.

Meanwhile fishermen said they had come to an agreement which will preserve their scallop fishery in Lyme Bay as well as protecting sensitive reefs.

Mr Bradshaw is visiting Lundy Island today to see first hand some of the conservation work being undertaken on the island, including the successes of the Lundy Island no take zone.

Mr Bradshaw said:

"I am impressed with the way in which the Lundy no take zone is protecting marine wildlife, especially lobsters, crabs, corals and sponges. Evidence from the 2004/05 monitoring programme suggests that lobsters in the zone appeared to have increased in size and doubled in abundance.

"The Government is committed to increasing and extending our protection of the invaluable marine environment. It is imperative that we ensure a sustainable future for people to continue benefiting from and enjoying all that the sea has to offer, and so that this wonderful environment continues to exist for future generations.

"To this end, the Joint Nature Conservation Committee (JNCC) will be consulting in early 2007 on the creation of a number of Special Areas of Conservation (SACs).

"Three of the areas being considered are Haig Fras, Dogger Bank, and the North Norfolk sandbanks and Saturn Reef. Each represents a unique habitat within the marine environment and we must ensure they are properly protected."

The Minister also said he would also take urgent steps to protect rare pink sea fans and other important marine features in Lyme Bay off the Devon and Dorset coast.

The pink sea fan is a warm water species which has a limited western distribution in the British Isles, with particularly dense populations occurring in waters to the east of the Lizard, the east of Lundy Island, around Plymouth Sound, and in Lyme Bay.

Mr Bradshaw said:

"We are acting to protect these pink sea fans, ross corals and sunset corals, and to also protect other parts of Lyme Bay's important marine environment.

"Defra has worked closely with both English Nature and representatives of the fishing industry to reach a compromise on the areas of the Bay to be closed.

"An agreement has been reached which provides the necessary protection on a voluntary basis. We will be consulting with Sea Fisheries Committees to consider how this can be backed up by legislation.

"I will also be considering suggestions that we should exclude other forms of extractive fishing from the closed zones, in order to allow the biodiversity of Lyme Bay to receive maximum benefit and in order to allow scallops to benefit in the open areas."

Meanwhile, the The South West Inshore Scallopers Association (SWISA) said today they had come to an agreement with the Marine Fisheries Agency in relation to the future of the Lyme Bay scallop fishery.

From midnight today, 24th August 2006, the members of SWISA will adhere to the new Marine Protected Areas in Lyme Bay. The areas have been drawn-up by the fishermen themselves and they enclose the three main nationally important reefs and a substantial area around them.

The reefs are known to fishermen as the Beer Home Grounds, the Lane’s Grounds and the Saw Tooth Ledges. The East Tennents Reef will also be given the same degree of protection.

This decision,says the grouping, has been taken in the light of an English Nature proposal to close to mobile fishing gear the entire 60 square miles of the Lyme Bay scallop grounds. The economic consequences for Devon and Dorset fishermen would have been devastating and the area they proposed far exceeded that of the reefs in need of protection.

Fishermen formed SWISA in order to unite and fight against their plans. Evidence had to be gathered quickly and a £3,000 grant from the Rural Enterprise Gateway (REG) Fund secured the services of Plymouth University’s Dr Tim Stevens, who undertook a Scoping Survey to reveal the options for future protection of the Reefs that would allow the continuation of fishing.

A zonal olution with tight rules of access, regulation and monitoring was accepted by the fishermen as the way forward and this formed their bid to the Minister at a meeting in Whitehall yesterday.

Group secretary Jim Portus said:"Thankfully the Minister has indicated his willingness to try what could now become a model for future management situations around the coast. The potential exists in many locations for fishermen and the environment to come into conflict, but where intelligence and local knowledge come together solutions can be found that enable all to benefit.

"This agreement is voluntary initially and will be enforced in due course by statutory instrument or local sea fisheries committee byelaw.

"The largest of the newly closed areas involves about five square miles of the Beer Home Grounds that had hitherto not been protected by voluntary closure save for the decision of SWISA earlier this

year to avoid the reefs in Lyme Bay."

www.fishupdate.com is published by Special Publications. Special Publications also publish FISHupdate magazine, Fish Farmer, the Fish Industry Yearbook, the Scottish Seafood Processors Federation Diary, the Fish Farmer Handbook and a range of wallplanners.

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