UK Marine Protection

The British Marine Conservation

Unlike many developed countries and indeed the developing countries many of us visit to dive, the UK is rather behind the times when it comes to marine parks.

The Marine Conservation Society has launched a new initiative to increase the number of marine reserves in the UK

http://www.marinereservesnow.org.uk/

In the UK we are rather fond of critising others for their lack of conservation, but here is a problem of our own we can do something about.

Alex

Recently there was a consultation on the proposed Marine Bill. Rather oddly there was no real mention of fisheries in the consultative material - perhaps this could be because fisheries are by far the most damaging influence on the UK's marine environment and are a political hot potato!

The UK is literally medieval in its approach to much marine conservation - a common right to fisheries is overlaid by a miscellaneous mess of poorly thought out and abysmally implemented legislation. The UK's marine environment is in a mess and this is likely to become worse as fisheries become less finacially feasible and new target species are looked for.

As an underwater photographer I've seen changes in the marine environment over the last 25 years and things are changing faster than ever today. If you want to do something then not only register on the link but chase your MP too!