Welcome

The consultation is now closed.

From December 14^th 2012 until the 31^st March 2013, Defra carried out a consultation to seek views on proposals for designation of Marine Conservation Zones (MCZs) in English inshore and English and Welsh offshore waters.

An ambitious stakeholder-led approach was used to recommend possible MCZs to Government. Four stakeholder-led Regional MCZ Projects were established: Irish Sea Conservation Zones (Irish Sea), Finding Sanctuary (South West waters), Balanced Seas (South East waters) and Net Gain (North Sea) managed by the Statutory Nature Conservation Bodies (the SNCBs: Natural England and the Joint Nature Conservation Committee). In developing their proposals the Regional MCZ Projects worked to guidance from the SNCBs which provided a detailed set of targets on conservation features for inclusion in the network. The Regional MCZ Projects took potential economic and social impacts into account in making these recommendations and also provided a detailed impact assessment to accompany their site recommendations.

More information on the regional projects and their final recommendation reports are available here.

Natural England and JNCC provided formal advice to Government on the Regional MCZ projects recommendations in July 2012, which are available here. Natural England and JNCC’s formal advice was subsequently amended via a report published in December 2012, which is available here.

Defra has considered all the available above information and the consultation contains proposals for which of the sites they consider are suitable for designation in 2013. Their aim has been to find the right balance between the strength of the conservation advantages an MCZ offers, relative to the socio-economic implications of its likely designation. Whether an MCZ, and all of its features, are suitable for designation in the 2013 tranche depends on the levels of confidence in the scientific evidence and the balance between the sites conservation advantages and the socio-economic costs. Defra is proposing that up to 31 sites are good candidates for designation in 2013.

This Interactive Map can be used to obtain information on all of the MCZs recommended by the Regional MCZ Projects. An additional level of detail is provided for sites that Defra considers good candidates for designation in 2013. More information on Defra’s consultation and how to respond is available here. This includes Defra’s Impact Assessment to support the consultation which provides illustrative examples of potential costs of designating MCZs to the main sectors that use the sea.

Additional Resources

The consultation is now closed.

Please click here to download the data for the rMCZ boundaries. Please be careful to read the terms and conditions provided before proceeding with the download.

Should you require more information or help on using this site please contact us, review the Terms and conditions of use or Cookie Policy

View

Press the Layer List or Map Key toggle buttons to swap between a list of the layers and the current map legend.

Please Note:Only features that have been proposed by Defra for designation in 2013 are displayed on the Interactive Map. To view information on the features as recommended by the regional projects please right click on the site that you are interested in and click on the link to the Regional MCZ Project Site Assessment Document which contains the relevant maps.

Through the MCZ Interactive Map you can view many different map layers. Use the map controls to locate, zoom and pan and the tick boxes to choose the data that you want to display.

Help

Many people will find it useful to read the help document for the webGIS. It can be accessed as a webpage here.

Should you wish to begin using the webGIS right away, context specific help can be accessed via the that you will find throughout the site.

Click on one of the links below to jump to the relevant section of the help.

Basics

What is the MCZ Interactive Map?

Using the map interface

Using the view tab

Shortcuts

• Take me straight to the map

• I'm new, show me the tutorial/help pages

• I just want to view data

• MCZ Project Newsletter Issue 4: Winter 2011

I need to add data, show me how:

• Register for the interactive map

• Log in

Shortcuts

• Take me straight to the map

• I'm new, show me the tutorial/help pages

• I just want to view data

• MCZ Project Newsletter Issue 4: Winter 2011

I need to add data, show me how:

• Register for the interactive map

• Log in

The Marine Conservation Zone Project is a partnership project to identify Marine Conservation Zones (MCZs), working with people who use the sea for their livelihood or leisure.

September 2011: The four regional MCZ projects have now submitted their recommendations for MCZs within their regions to the Science Advisory Panel, the Joint Nature Conservation Committee and Natural England. Each regional MCZ project has its own report which provides detailed information for individual sites including site boundaries, features proposed for protection and draft conservation objectives. These reports are now available for download from their websites:

Click on a project area to zoom the map.

The final recommendations for MCZs from the four regional MCZ projects can be viewed through this interactive map.

Now that the Regional Project site recommendations, Impact Assessment and Natural England and JNCC’s advice has been submitted, Ministers are considering the supporting evidence before deciding which sites to take forward for designation in 2013. A public consultation is scheduled to be held in December 2012.

The public consultation on sites Government intends to designate will be an opportunity for people to review, comment and feedback to Government on the proposed designation decisions before they are finalised. More information on this can be found on the Defra website.

More information on the Marine Conservation Zone Project is available from the JNCC and Natural England websites.

This project has been jointly funded by Defra, Natural England and the Joint Nature Conservation Committee. For more information on the marine programmes in these organisations click on the logos below.

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