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How are our seas protected and managed?
Marine Protected Areas
Marine Conservation Zones
Marine Conservation Zones interactive marine map
The Marine Conservation Zone Project (MCZ Project) is a partnership project working with people who use the sea for their livelihood or leisure to identify potential new Marine Conservation Zones.
Seagrass beds (c) Paul Kay
It wants sea lovers to get involved with a new interactive marine map by uploading details of which areas of sea they like to use and marine species, habitats and undersea landscapes they have seen there.
Go to www.mczmapping.org
to upload information about your marine activities, and the location of marine wildlife, notable habitats and geological features you have seen. Or just look at the layers of data out of personal interest to discover more about your region’s sea.
The MCZ Project area has been split into four regional projects covering:
the south-west (Finding Sanctuary
)Irish Sea (Irish Sea Conservation Zones
)North Sea (Net Gain
) andsouth-east (Balanced Seas
)
The information that you share will be used by representatives involved in these projects to plan the Zones.
Recreational and commercial needs will be taken into consideration before the Zones get designated in 2012.
The aim is for Marine Conservation Zones to have the least impact possible on people’s activities, but MCZs still need to meet guidelines for protecting species and habitats.
Using public participation and the best evidence available, the MCZ Project is working with sea users and interest groups to plan MCZs for a healthy, sustainable marine environment.
Lundy Island off north Devon has had a level of marine protection since 2003, and became England’s first Marine Conservation Zone in January 2010.
