13 July 2012
Lyme Bay – Blue Marine Foundation project - Charles Clover initiative
Fishermen and conservationists have formed an alliance designed to save England’s “coral garden” from destruction by overfishing. Lyme Bay became the UK’s largest marine protected area in 2008 when scallop dredging was banned but the measure had the “unintended consequence” of encouraging fishermen to vastly increase the number of static pots and nets. The bay and its fragile reef ecosystem is again threatened with overfishing in the 90 square miles that trawlers are barred from, including a Special Area of Conservation (SAC), but fishermen and conservationists have now agreed a unique deal which they hope will save it.
The initiative was hailed as offering a blueprint to how fishing can be allowed to continue in other marine SACs and the 127 marine protected zones proposed around the UK’s coast, just as farming and other industries are able to continue operating in terrestrial national parks. Charles Clover, chairman of the Blue Marine Foundation and author of The End of The Line, unveiled the project in London where he accused the government of failing to ensure marine SACs are managed properly. “Lyme Bay is already a marine protected area. The question is whether it is well run. The government has certainly not managed any of its marine SACs, in my view, in the way that they are legally obliged to be by Europe.’ To read more ....
