Posted on January, 16 2007

London, UK – A new WWF report identifies for the first time the most important marine locations in the UK in urgent need of protection.

“Our seas are becoming busier than ever before due to an increase in human activities threatening the marine environment, from fishing and shipping to dredging and wind farms,” said Kate Reeves, a marine policy officer with WWF-UK.

“This unique marine environment is under serious threat and unless significant areas are protected now by an urgently needed Marine Act, these treasures will be lost.”

The five “hotspots” identified in the report are: Plymouth Sound in South Devon, Blackwater Estuary in Essex, Dogger Bank in the southern North Sea, Rathlin Island in Northern Ireland and the Menai Straight in Wales.

The hotspots were chosen for their diverse populations of wildlife and rich habitat, including rare fan mussels, cold water corals, grey seals, fireworks anemone, saltmarshes, branching sponges and killer whales.

“Our report highlighting areas of enormous natural importance will help in the development of legislation which must include a national network of marine protected areas to preserve the richness and diversity of our seas and to restore sites wherever possible," Reeves added.
 
"The UK government must ensure there is adequate protection in the Marine Bill and investment in resources to protect our seas for future generations, not only for the intrinsic value of our marine wildlife, but for the goods, services and livelihoods that this wildlife provides."

END NOTES:

• The “hotspots” concept to identify the most diverse areas for wildlife conservation has been used on land, but this was the first time it had been used to identify marine areas. The methodology developed procedures to analyze the largest UK marine biological datasets in the UK using six different measures to identify marine hotspots.

• Lists of species that are known to be rare and/or threatened in the identified marine hotspots:

Plymouth Reefs: Sunset cup coral, pink seafan and seafan anemone.

Rathlin Island: Branching sponges (over 143 sponge species included from 2005/6 surveys, 15 new to science) and burrowing anemones.

Blackwater Estuary: Saltmarshes (plants like thrift sea lavender and samphire), native oyster (rare due to pressures from Pacific oyster alien species).

Menai Strait: Honeycomb worm, burrowing anemone and grey seals.

Dogger Bank: Sand and gravel communities, potentially an important area for harbour porpoise and spawning grounds for herring.

• The report was written by Keith Hiscock and Mark Breckels of the Marine Biological Association (MBA) in Plymouth. The MBA of the United Kingdom (www.mba.ac.uk) is a professional body for marine biologists with some 1,200 members world-wide. The MBA has earned an international reputation for excellence and innovation in research, by the resident scientific staff and visiting research workers, including seven Nobel laureates.

For further information:
George Hadley, Senior Press Officer
WWF-UK
Tel: +44 01483 412 397
Email: ghadley@wwf.org.uk