 |
 |
 |
WWMC
This web site provides a home for each of these, links to other marine conservation initiatives and information on how to become involved in meaningful marine conservation action in south and west Wales.
Highly Protected Marine Conservation Zones in Wales
Following the introduction of the 2009 Marine & Coastal Access Act, Skomer Marine Nature Reserve should be redesignated as a Marine Conservation Zone. In Wales it is the Government’s intention that the new Marine Conservation Zone provisions will be used to create three, maybe four, small sites with high levels of protection.
We believe Skomer MNR should become a highly protected MCZ. Please see the HPMCZ campaign pages to learn how you can give your support.
The Welsh Government plan three rounds of consultation on their proposed sites. Watch the Marine Conservation Zone Project Wales webpage for news or, better, sign up to the WWMC newsletter and be notified when consultations are announced.
Well, the consultation is now closed,
but the e-petition is still open until the end of August …. sign here!
……………………………………………………………………………………
Latest news …
Please act now to support Skomer proposal as an HP MCZ
Last modified on 2012-07-19 21:10:37 GMT. 0 comments. Top.
The Welsh Government’s highly protected MCZ project is in trouble: your support is needed urgently.
Triggered in part by a truly poor consultation document and a badly mishandled consultation process, well organised and determined opposition to the to HP MCZ proposal has developed.
The badly handled consultation has generated legitimate concerns, but misleading and alarming disinformation spread by a combination of fishing interests and people who seem ideologically opposed to HP MCZs has frightened many people blindly objecting to the proposals.
The opposition is so well orchestrated that there appears to be real risk the entire process will be abandoned by Welsh Government unless they receive a sufficiently large number of responses supporting HP MCZs.
It is important that Welsh Government stick to their policy both for the sake of the Welsh marine environment and for the Skomer MNR in particular.
Please respond positively to the consultation.
A model response letter is available here.
You will need to fill in some information and delete any text not relevant to you. And please customise it as much as you can – the fewer identical responses Welsh Government receive the better – and don’t forget to save it with a suitable filename that identifies it as yours before you e-mail it!
E-mail your response letter to: Marine@wales.gsi.gov.uk by 31 July at the latest.
Please also write in support to the Welsh Environment Minister, John Griffiths.
A model letter to the Minister is available here.
Send by e-mail to: correspondence.john.griffiths@wales.gsi.gov.uk
or by post to: Minister for Environment and Sustainable Development
Welsh Government
5th Floor
Ty Hywel
Pierhead Street
Cardiff Bay CF99-1NA
Last but not least, please sign up to this e-petition here.
Most importantly, please tell all your friends and colleagues that care about protecting the marine environment that their support is needed too. Please, please tweet, Facebook, blog or e-mail a link to this page to spread the word. Consultation responses must be received by 31 July so you don’t have long.
>
Welsh Government confirm they have no intention of prohibiting no-take recreational diving in HP MCZs at meeting with diving representatives
Last modified on 2012-07-12 20:36:48 GMT. 0 comments. Top.
The Welsh Government Marine Branch met diving representatives (BSAC, WASAC, SAA, dive schools, Seasearchers) in Swansea on 12th June.
The WG representative gave the key assurances that there is no intention of prohibiting look-but-don’t-take recreational diving in highly protected MCZs.
The diving representatives assured WG that the diving community as a whole are supportive of MCZs. However, they were concerned that the WG had a negative attitude toward diving and stressed the high training and environmental standards and responsibility of the overwhelming majority of divers.
The minutes of the meeting are here.
>
Beware anti-Marine Conservation Zones scare tactics
Last modified on 2012-06-13 21:01:54 GMT. 0 comments. Top.
The media – from newspapers to social media, Facebook in particular – are alive with misleading and incorrect implications and claims about the impacts of Wales’ possible highly protected Marine Conservation Zones on recreational and other activities that are benign and will require little or no management. Whether these reports arise from innocent misunderstandings or whether they are deliberate mischief making is not easy to tell – but the deliberate and targeted way disinformation is being spread does seem suspiciously orchestrated.
Rebuttals of a very misleading article in Pembrokeshire’s Western Telegraph were published recently see here.
At a meeting between Welsh Government and diving representatives on 12 June the WG confirmed that there is no intention to prohibit recreational diving from HP MCZs. Certainly no extractive diving, such as shellfishing; but simply looking and enjoying – including wreck diving – not a problem. Assuming the notes of the meeting become available they will be published here when possible.
The take home message from all the disinformation is read the detail in the consultation documents for yourself and don’t accept tittle tattle at face value. Certainly the consultation document is heavy going and unclear in many places, but if you are unsure about a meaning ask the Welsh Government (see the consultation pages for contact details) or send a query to WWMC and we will attempt to answer it.
>