Cumbria Wildlife Trust is backing a new form of protection for the sea and calling on the Government for an ambitious delivery plan for Highly Protected Marine Areas within a year.

The Benyon review of Highly Protected Marine Areas (HMPAs) is published by Defra today and Cumbria Wildlife Trust is backing its recommendations that HMPAs should be an essential part of the UK network for protection and recovery of the marine environment, and the Government should introduce HMPAs within existing protected areas.

The review is published on World Oceans Day by an independent panel of members from academia, industry and conservation backgrounds and chaired by former MP and fisheries minister Richard Benyon.

Cumbria Wildlife Trust believes that there is an overwhelming case for HMPAs across our seas which could see a ban on all damaging activities and are calling for an ambitious delivery plan within a year.

Cumbria Wildlife Trust’s senior marine conservation officer, Dr Emily Baxter, said: “Our seas are becoming increasingly threatened by pollution, unsustainable exploitation such as overfishing and development at sea, and increasingly the effects of global climate change.

“These pressures are altering the ecological balance, depleting resources beyond safe biological limits and jeopardising what we can take from the sea. Our sea needs to recover and this will require swift action to be taken.

“Today’s report proposed one of the vital steps needed towards the recovery. We urge the Government to take on board the recommendations and commit to a HMPA recovery plan before World Oceans Day 2021.

“Existing Marine Protected Areas like Allonby bay and Cumbria Coast Marine Conservation Zones are limited in their ability to restore habitats and marine life, as their remit of these sites is to maintain these habitats in their current condition. In these areas, only some of the most damaging activities are prevented, and only in some parts of the site.

“Importantly, today’s report recommends that Highly Protected Marine Areas should allow the protection and recovery of marine ecosystems by prohibiting extraction, destruction and deposition, and only allowing non-damaging levels of other activities to occur. It also highlights that these areas should protect all species and habitats within their boundaries – allowing nature to recover properly.

“Another important recommendation is that HPMAs should be designated in all areas of English Seas, both inshore and offshore, covering a range of habitats.

"Over the next year we will be working hard to ensure that important areas off the Cumbrian coast and further offshore in the Irish Sea receive full consideration based on robust ecological evidence. We will also be encouraging HPMAs to be monitored closely, to allow us to understand what a thriving seabed and restored marine ecosystem really means.”