| #1  02-18-2010, 11:17 AM | |||
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| Marine Conservation Zones coming soon to south-west England The Marine and Coastal Access Act introduces a new national designation for marine protection - Marine Conservation Zones (MCZs). MCZs must be identified and designated in the seas around England, to help create a coherent network of marine protected areas by 2012. New Marine Conservation Zones and existing designations: European Marine Sites, Marine Nature Reserves and Sites of Special Scientific Interest, will make up the network of marine protected areas. No Marine Conservation Zones have been proposed yet but sea angling is one the activities that could be restricted in certain ways by MCZs. For example, some sites may become no-take zones in order to meet conservation targets, therefore it is important that you know how you can influence these decisions now, before they have been made. Four projects have been set up around England to work with sea anglers and other sea users to decide where these zones should go and what level of protection they should have. These projects are: Finding Sanctuary in the south-west, Balanced Seas in the south-east, Net Gain for the North Sea and Irish Sea Conservation Zones for the Irish Sea. Sea angling is recognised as an important activity in the south-west and with a detailed knowledge of local marks and fish ecology, sea anglers will play a vital role in developing ideas for MCZs, ensuring they protect key areas such as spawning and nursery grounds. In the south-west, Finding Sanctuary has brought together sea anglers, divers, commercial fishermen, sailors, conservationists, scientists and many other marine stakeholders on its Steering Group. The Steering Group is responsible for drawing the lines on maps – deciding where MCZs should be placed and what level of protection they should have. The level of protection given to each MCZ will be decided on a case by case basis. The Steering Group will make its recommendations to Government in June 2011 and the final decision lies with the Ministers. We have several liaison officers collecting information from sea anglers about which areas of sea they use, so that we can create a map of sea angling activity around the south-west. Accurate information about where sea angling takes place in the region is essential, as this is the information that the sea angling representatives on the Steering Group will use to stand up for your interests during the negotiations, with the aim of minimising the impact of MCZs on your activity. The sea angling representatives on the Finding Sanctuary Steering Group are Peter MacConnell (B.A.S.S. & Angling Trust), Mike Bailey (Brixham Angling Club) and Paul Taylor (Cornish Federation of Sea Anglers). We want to work with you to ensure we get the best result for everyone involved, but if we don’t know which areas are important to you, Peter, Mike and Paul can’t try to avoid them when planning MCZs. There are three ways you can get involved to have your say: 1. Visit our Interactive Map 2. Call Finding Sanctuary on 01392 878 340 and arrange to meet your nearest liaison officer who will help you to map the areas which are important to you. 3. Join us at one of our drop in days around the south-west over the next few months for more information, to ask questions or record the sea areas you use on our maps. New dates and venues for drop in days are being added frequently and are detailed on the News section of our website. We will try to check back here from time to time, but if you have any questions, suggestions or concerns please get in touch with us directly. South-west Finding Sanctuary Email: info@finding-sanctuary.org Tel: 01392 878 340 If you fish in other parts of the country get in touch with your nearest project. South-east Balanced Seas Email: balancedseas@kent.ac.uk Tel: 01227 827 839 North Sea Net Gain Email: dani@yhsg.co.uk Tel: 01482 382 007 Irish Sea Irish Sea Conservation Zones Email: info@irishseaconservation.org.uk Tel: 01925 813 200     |
| #2 02-18-2010, 11:30 AM | |||
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| Have your say: More Finding Sanctuary drop-in days across the south-west If you use the sea in the south-west, we want to hear from you. It is your opportunity to speak to Finding Sanctuary staff about new Marine Conservation Zones, how they could affect you and how you can get involved. Dates have been organised for February and March around the south west, so come along at any time during the day to your nearest venue. Bude Drop-in Day Thursday 25th February 2010, 10am – 8pm Bude Tourist Information Centre, Crescent Car Park, Bude, Cornwall, EX23 8LE Newlyn/Penzance Drop-in Day Monday 1st March 2010, 10am – 8pm Fishermen’s Mission, Ship Institute, North Pier, Newlyn, Penzance, Cornwall, TR18 5JB Poole Drop-in Day Thursday 18th March 2010, 10am – 8pm The Lifeboat College, West Quay Road, Poole, Dorset, BH15 1HZ Bristol Drop-in Day Tuesday 23rd March 2010, 10am – 8pm The Kings Arms, 168 Whiteladies Road, Bristol, BS8 2XZ To find out more call Sarah McLintock on 01392 878 340/07544 590294, email her at sarah@finding-sanctuary.org or look at our website. Don’t forget, if you can’t make it to one of our drop-in days, you could always map the areas of sea you use on our Interactive Map online. If you use the sea in other parts of England, contact your nearest project: South-east - Balanced Seas North Sea - Net Gain Irish Sea - Irish Sea Conservation Zones. If you are not sure which regional project you fall under, take a look at our map. |
| #3 06-07-2010, 09:58 AM | |||
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| Re: Marine Conservation Zones coming soon to south-west England Finding Sanctuary will be holding a workshop for recreational sea users on June 23rd in Exeter. This workshop will give recreational users the chance to meet their representatives on our Regional Steering Group to give them your thoughts and comments directly. There will also be the opportunity to be amongst the first see the data we have collected from divers, anglers and watersports users alike. For more information on the event and details of how to book your place take a look at our website or contact Sarah McLintock: sarah@finding-sanctuary.org 01392 878 340 |
| #4 06-07-2010, 09:26 PM | |||
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| Re: Marine Conservation Zones coming soon to south-west England The Mayor of Torbay has an event on the same day outlining his vision for the future. In his office's words "to bring about the physical and economic regeneration of one of Europe’s finest marine environments: The New English Riviera." As Torbay is a major economic draw on some very sensitive areas of the South Devon coast, I'm asuming the two committees are in at least passing consultation? I hope to attend both events __________________ I am in shape. ROUND is a shape! |
| #5 10-25-2010, 10:03 AM | |||
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| Last chance to get involved! Afternoon all, For those of you wondering which areas are being discussed with regards to Marine Conservation Zones, take a look at the meeting reports from our September Inshore and Offshore Working Groups (sub groups of our regional Steering Group who are actually making the recommendations to government next June). They met again at the end of last week, so the maps contained in the appendix of the September reports may change slightly in the next report, but I thought you'd all like to have a look at this one too. All reports can be found on the resources page of the website The main aim of this post is to point out that... ....Data collection STOPS on October 31st!!So you need to get your information onto the Interactive Map soon if you haven't already. Finding Sanctuary is sharing their updated stakeholder activity maps with the public. These maps represent the aggregated activity of commercial fishing, recreational boating, sea angling, charter boats and diving in the Finding Sanctuary region. The data was collected through individual and group interviews around South West England between October 2008 and October 2010. Data has also been included from the Interactive Map (www.mczmapping.org) website up until October 2010. These maps will be used by the Finding Sanctuary Steering Group to help inform Marine Conservation Zone (MCZ) planning decisions. The Finding Sanctuary Steering Group are currently exploring how to meet a number of ecological targets and need to understand what implications there will be to the sector group that they represent. The data will also be used during the development of the Impact Assessment. We are asking sea users to evaluate these data sets for the degree to which they represent a realistic picture of their activity, the distribution and intensity of use across the region. We are aware that there are still gaps in this data and we hope to fill these as much as possible by the end of October. If you would like to participate in evaluating the maps, visit the resources pages, click on the ‘General’ tab and download the map(s) matching your activity that you would like to look at. Then:
Please read the following information regarding how the maps were created: D.2.1.2 – Private boat and shore Angling – represents the distribution of shore and private boat angling for 3796 anglers from 109 interviews. 42 of these interviews were with clubs or groups of more than 10 people. The majority of this data was collected from clubs in Devon and Cornwall. There is information from Dorset and Somerset yet to be included. D.4.1.5 – Paddlesports – represents the distribution of 5343 individuals from 45 interviews and includes activities such as rowing, kayaking, and paddleboarding. 13 of these interviews were with clubs or watersports centres of more than 10 members. The majority of this data was collected from clubs in Devon and Cornwall. There is information from Dorset and Somerset yet to be included. In theory all kayak angling should be represented on the angling map, but just incase it isn't you may also want to view the paddle sports map - please be aware this also includes Gig clubs. If you have any further questions, please contact the project or your liaison officer. Kind regards and happy fishing, Sarah Finding Sanctuary 01392 878 327 |
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