The UK’s sealife will be protected by 31 new conservation zones aimed at preventing trawling and dredging destroying life on the ocean floor, under plans announced by the government on Thursday. But ministers rejected advice to create 127 zones, including all the areas where no activity would have been allowed, leading campaigners to describe the plan as “pitiful” and a “bitter disappointment”…. read more.
A consultation outlining the proposals for the first set of sites has been launched by DEFRA, and will give coastal communities and those with an interest in the marine environment, the opportunity to have a say in its future.