The strategy prioritises a need for new legislation to take forward a network of MPAs that represents all habitats and species. Such a network would include areas that have varying levels of protection, including some that are highly protected to stop all damaging commercial and recreational activities.

The network of MPAs would contribute to the recovery and protection of the whole marine ecosystem rather than focusing specifically on individual habitats and species, with the intention of allowing exploited species to recover, which could lead to bigger fish catches and a healthier environment more resilient to major impacts such as climate change. To deliver these benefits, the strategy suggests that at least 20 to 30% of all marine habitats will need to have strict protection.

With climate change causing sea levels to rise as well as producing more and bigger storms, the coasts are suffering from unprecedented changes.

The strategy's call for a shift from coastal protection to coastal management sees traditional coastal defences as old and expensive to maintain whilst habitats such as saltmarshes and intertidal mudflats that protect us from the sea are lost to inappropriate development.

The strategy calls for more innovative management which works with coastal processes to create space for coastal habitats and diversity, allowing coastal habitats and their wildlife to adapt and move, thereby offering greater protection.

The strategy sees the seas becoming more congested, with a growing need to balance often conflicting marine uses while protecting and managing the marine environment. With no current overview of new applications for potentially harmful activities in the seas, it is hypothetically possible for applications for a wind farm, a port expansion, and gravel dredging to be evaluated at the same time by different regulators with no assessment of their cumulative effects.

Individually each may not be harmful but together there could be problems which would be addressed by coordinated and effective spatial planning.

MJ Information No: 20510