The Marine Protected Areas Technical Group, an
executive-level technical group, was established in parallel with a
non-executive sub-group of the
JNCC Committee (MPA Sub Group) to
facilitate a co-ordinated approach to Marine Protected Areas work,
and provide the necessary assurances to Joint Committee.
The group addresses technical issues
and policy-relevant aspects of Marine Protected Areas work
including Natura and new national MPAs established under domestic
legislation. The group is chaired by JNCC’s Marine Director, or
their nominated representative. It allows the country conservation
agencies to discuss common issues across the UK and resolve issues
where needed prior to submission to the Joint Committee and/or the
equivalent bodies of the other country conservation
agencies. Meetings are held three times a year in
February, May and September and are supported by a Secretariat
provided by JNCC. With regard to Natura, the first step in the
process of SAC identification is comment on the
site documentation by the Technical Group. The Terms of
Reference for the Group will be made available shortly and
minutes of previous meetings are available.
The Marine Protected Areas Technical
Group replaces the Marine Natura Project Group.
The minutes of past meetings are made available once they have
been formally approved by the group at the subsequent meeting.