Natural England - Marine Conservation Zones

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Marine Conservation Zones

MCZs will protect nationally important marine wildlife, habitats, geology and geomorphology. The Marine Conservation Zone Project concerns the selection of MCZs in English inshore waters and offshore waters next to England, Wales and Northern Ireland. Sites will be selected to protect not just the rare and threatened, but the range of marine wildlife.

MCZs, together with other types of MPA, will deliver the Government's aim for an 'ecologically coherent network of Marine Protected Areas'. This means the MPA network will be a collection of areas that work together to provide more benefits than an individual area could on its own.

The Marine Conservation Zone Project

The Marine Conservation Zone Project is being led by Natural England and the Joint Nature Conservation Committee (JNCC) to identify and recommend Marine Conservation Zones to Government.

The Marine Conservation Zone Project will be delivered through four Regional Projects covering south-west seas(Finding Sanctuary), the Irish Sea (Irish Sea Conservation Zones), the North Sea (Net Gain) and south-east seas (Balanced Seas). They will work with sea users and interest groups to identify Marine Conservation Zones (MCZs) and provide recommendations for sites within their regions to Government.

Selecting MCZs

Natural England and JNCC are providing advice on how MCZs should be selected. Advice on the process for selecting MCZs is set out in the Project Delivery Guidance . Statutory advice on the criteria for selection of MCZs within the Project areas is set out in the Ecological Network Guidance . The regional stakeholder groups will use this guidance to develop their recommendations.  Government will use these recommendations as a basis for selecting MCZs for designation in 2012.

Further information on the MCZ Project

• MCZ Project information document (produced by JNCC)

• MCZ Project meeting dates  March 2010

• First MCZ Project newsletter (sign up to receive future editions)

• Summary of responses to sharing the Ecological Network Guidance

• Related research reports
  NECR018- Representativity and replication for a coherent network of Marine Protected Areas in England’s territorial waters (2009) 
  NECR037- Guidance on the size and spacing of Marine Protected Areas in England (2010)
  NECR043 - Meeting the MPA Network Principle of Viability: Feature specific recommendations for species and habitats of conservation importance (2010)

• Natural England's roles and responsibilities in the MCZ Project

More information about Marine Conservation Zones can be found on the Joint Nature Conservation Committee and Defra websites.

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