{"id":3431,"date":"2019-08-01T10:14:55","date_gmt":"2019-08-01T10:14:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.naturepl.com\/blog\/?p=3431"},"modified":"2019-08-01T10:37:43","modified_gmt":"2019-08-01T10:37:43","slug":"new-marine-conservation-zones","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.naturepl.com\/blog\/2019\/08\/01\/new-marine-conservation-zones\/","title":{"rendered":"New Marine Conservation Zones"},"content":{"rendered":"

New Marine Conservation Zones<\/h3>\n

On 31st May 2019, the UK designated an additional 41 new Marine Conservation Zones, taking the total to 91. Originally the Marine Act of 2009 introduced the concept of protected marine areas in UK coastal and offshore waters. Then the government created the previous Marine Conservation Zones in 2013 and 2016.\u00a0 The newly protected area covers an additional 12,000 square kilometres. In fact, these Marine Conservation Zones apply to England and Northern Ireland offshore waters. Separate designations apply in the rest of the UK<\/a>. For instance, Scotland has a total of 31 Marine Protected Areas, while in Wales 35% of territorial waters are protected, mainly as European Marine Sites. Northern Ireland passed its own Marine Act in 2013 and now has a total of 6 Marine Conservation Zones.<\/p>\n

Did you know that seahorses, corals and basking sharks (the world’s second largest fish) occur in British waters? In fact, these are all part of the very rich and diverse marine life that occurs around the UK coastline.<\/p>\n