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Offshore Marine Protected Areas

Please be advised that the Marine Management Organisation (MMO) has announced the launch of its consultation on proposed Stage 3 Marine Protected Areas fishing gear byelaws, impacting 29 MPAs which lie fully or partially in the English offshore area. Four byelaws are being proposed:

The MMO is seeking views and evidence on these proposals.  Please visit the Marine protected areas Stage 3 consultation webpage to view their proposals and for details on how to respond to their consultation. The consultation will close on 1 September 2025.

For more information about each of the offshore MPAs covered by the MMO’s Stage 3 byelaw proposals, you can visit JNCC’s Site Information Centres by clicking on the relevant site listed in the table below.

 

This page provides links to the Site Information Centres (SICs), which have been developed for designated offshore MPAs in the UK. Information about MPAs located in both territorial and offshore waters is available on JNCC's interactive map.

To access the Site Information Centre, please click on the relevant site in the table below:

Anton Dohrn Seamount SAC North-West of Jones Bank MCZ
Bassurelle Sandbank SAC North-West Rockall Bank SAC
Braemar Pockmarks SAC Norwegian Boundary Sediment Plain NCMPA
Bristol Channel Approaches SAC Offshore Brighton MCZ
Cape Bank MCZ Offshore Overfalls MCZ
Central Fladen NCMPA Orford Inshore MCZ
Croker Carbonate Slabs SAC Outer Firth of Forth and St Andrews Bay Complex SPA
Darwin Mounds SAC Outer Thames Estuary SPA
Dogger Bank SAC Pisces Reef Complex SAC
Dolphin Head HPMA Pobie Bank Reef SAC
East of Gannet and Montrose Fields NCMPA Queenie Corner MCZ
East of Haig Fras MCZ Scanner Pockmark SAC
East of Start Point MCZ Seas off Foula SPA
East Rockall Bank SAC Seas off St Kilda SPA
Farnes East MCZ Skomer, Skokholm and the Seas off Pembrokeshire SPA
Faroe-Shetland Sponge Belt NCMPA Solan Bank Reef SAC
Firth of Forth Banks Complex NCMPA Southern North Sea SAC
Fulmar MCZ South Dorset MCZ
Geikie Slide and Hebridean Slope NCMPA South of Celtic Deep MCZ
Greater Haig Fras MCZ South of the Isles of Scilly MCZ
Greater Wash SPA South Rigg MCZ
Haig Fras SAC South-West Deeps (West) MCZ
Haisborough, Hammond and Winterton SAC South West Approaches to the Bristol Channel MCZ
Hatton Bank cSAC South West Deeps (East) MCZ
Hatton-Rockall Basin NCMPA Stanton Banks SAC
Holderness Offshore MCZ Swallow Sand MCZ
Inner Bank MCZ The Barra Fan and Hebrides Terrace Seamount NCMPA
Inner Dowsing, Race Bank and North Ridge SAC The Canyons MCZ
Irish Sea Front SPA Turbot Bank NCMPA
Kentish Knock East MCZ West Shetland Shelf NCMPA
Liverpool Bay SPA West of Copeland MCZ
Markham's Triangle MCZ West of Scotland Deep Sea Marine Reserve
North Anglesey Marine SAC West of Walney MCZ
North Channel SAC West of Wight-Barfleur MCZ
North-east Faroe-Shetland Channel NCMPA West Wales Marine SAC
North-East of Haig Fras MCZ Western Channel MCZ
North East of Farnes Deep MPA and HPMA Wight-Barfleur Reef SAC
North Norfolk Sandbanks and Saturn Reef SAC Wyville Thomson Ridge SAC
North-west Orkney NCMPA  

For further information about Marine Protected Areas, their site designations and what is protected in Marine Protected Areas, go to 'About MPAs'.

JNCC is periodically working to improve the usefulness of the offshore MPA Site Information Centres.  An overview of our recent significant changes can be found in our audit document.  If you have any feedback, please contact us stating Site Information Centre feedback in the subject line.  If you are interested in viewing archived versions of JNCC’s Offshore MPA Site Information Centres, you can access them through The National Archives website.

 

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