Offshore MPA Conservation Advice

 

Windturbines Jpsdk_Dreamstime

Conservation advice for each of the offshore Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) is delivered through Site Information Centres. Advice on individual applications for plans and projects within or near offshore MPAs is delivered by our offshore industry advice team.

 

JNCC conservation advice is useful if you are:

  • developing or proposing any activity that may affect the site;
  • undertaking an assessment of impacts on the site from a proposed activity, for example a Habitats Regulations Appraisal (HRA);
  • planning measures to manage the site and its qualifying features to ensure the delivery of its conservation objectives; or;
  • monitoring and/or assessing the condition of the protected features.

 

 

 

A revised approach to offshore MPA conservation advice

Recommendations from a review of how the EU Habitats and Wild Birds Directives are implemented in England and guidance issued by the European Commission for Natura 2000 sites, recommends that conservation objectives ‘should remain up-to-date, be easily accessible and should allow applicants to assess the impacts of their proposed development against them’. Furthermore, an effort should be made to make them 'operational in practice and be specified in concrete terms and wherever possible be quantifiable in numbers and/or size'.

 

JNCC have been working on improving the conservation advice we provide for offshore Marine Protected Areas in line with the above principles. The new approach is based on recommended best practise and feedback from current users, and is outlined in the following paper:

 

A Glossary of Terms used in JNCC Conservation Advice is available in the following document:

 

To access a package for a site, click on the relevant site link provided below. You will be directed to the Site’s Information Centre on JNCC’s website. Once there, you need to scroll down to the conservation advice tab from where the advice package can be viewed and readily downloaded.

Site name                               Status of updated conservation advice
Anton Dohrn Seamount SAC Formal updated conservation advice available.
Bassurelle Sandbank SAC Formal updated conservation advice available.
Braemar Pockmarks SAC Formal updated conservation advice available.
Central Fladen Nature Conservation MPA Formal updated conservation advice available.
Croker Carbonate Slabs cSAC/SCI Formal updated conservation advice available.
Darwin Mounds SAC Formal updated conservation advice available.
Dogger Bank SAC Formal updated conservation advice available.
East of Gannet and Montrose Fields Nature Conservation MPA Formal updated conservation advice available.
East of Haig Fras MCZ Formal updated conservation advice available.
East Rockall Bank SAC Formal updated conservation advice available.
Faroe-Shetland Sponge Belt Nature Conservation MPA Formal updated conservation advice available.
Fulmar MCZ Formal updated conservation advice available.
Firth of Forth Banks Complex Nature Conservation MPA Formal updated conservation advice available.
Geikie Slide and Hebridean Slope Nature Conservation MPA Formal updated conservation advice available.
Greater Haig Fras MCZ Formal updated conservation advice available.
Haig Fras SAC Formal updated conservation advice available.
Haisborough, Hammond and Winterton SAC Formal updated conservation advice prepared in collaboration with Natural England is available on their Designated Sites System.
Hatton Bank cSAC Formal updated conservation advice available.
Hatton-Rockall Basin Nature Conservation MPA Formal updated conservation advice available.
Inner Dowsing, Race Bank and North Ridge SAC Formal updated conservation advice prepared in collaboration with Natural England is available on their Designated Sites System.
North-East Faroe-Shetland Channel Nature Conservation MPA Formal updated conservation advice available.
North East of Farnes Deep MCZ Formal updated conservation advice available.
North Norfolk Sandbanks and Saturn Reef SAC Formal updated conservation advice available.
North-West Orkney Nature Conservation MPA Formal updated conservation advice available.
North-West of Jones Bank MCZ Formal updated conservation advice available.
North-West Rockall Bank SAC Formal updated conservation advice available.
Norwegian Boundary Sediment Plain Nature Conservation MPA Formal updated conservation advice available.
Offshore Brighton MCZ Formal updated conservation advice available.
Pisces Reef Complex SAC Formal updated conservation advice available.
Rosemary Bank Seamount Nature Conservation MPA Formal updated conservation advice available.
Scanner Pockmark SAC Formal updated conservation advice available.
South Dorset MCZ Draft updated conservation advice prepared in collaboration with Natural England is available on their Designated Sites System.
South West Deeps (West) MCZ Formal updated conservation advice available.
Stanton Banks SAC Formal updated conservation advice available.
Swallow Sand MCZ Formal updated conservation advice available.
The Barra Fan and Hebrides Terrace Seamount Nature Conservation MPA Formal updated conservation advice available.
The Canyons MCZ Formal updated conservation advice available.
Turbot Bank Nature Conservation MPA Formal updated conservation advice available.
West Shetland Shelf Nature Conservation MPA Formal updated conservation advice available.
West of Walney MCZ Draft updated conservation advice prepared in collaboration with Natural England is available on their Designated Sites System.
Western Channel MCZ Formal updated conservation advice available.
Wight-Barfleur Reef SAC Formal updated conservation advice available.
Wyville-Thomson Ridge SAC Formal updated conservation advice available.

 

Further information

Further information is available on obtaining a license for operations in UK waters or for conservation in nearshore waters.

 

Tompot Blenny Plymouth Sound © Paul Naylor Curled octopus (Eledone cirrhosa) © Keith Hiscock, JNCC Sea fan anemone (Amphianthus dohrni) © Keith Hiscock Subtidal Mixed Sediments © Lin Baldock