The UK Government has published its policy paper on Highly Protected Marine Areas (HPMAs) which applies to England from May 2023.
image: for illustration – Dunes at Allonby by Stephen McKay, CC BY-SA 2.0 , via Wikimedia Commons
… will allow nature to fully recover to a more natural state…
The Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs writes:
Highly Protected Marine Areas (HPMAs) are areas of the sea (including the shoreline) that allow the protection and full recovery of marine ecosystems. By setting aside some areas of sea with high levels of protection, HPMAs will allow nature to fully recover to a more natural state, allowing the ecosystem to thrive.
HPMAs will protect all species and habitats and associated ecosystem processes within the site boundary, including the seabed and water column.
We intend to designate the first three Highly Protected Marine Areas (HPMAs) in English waters before 6 July 2023. This decision has come following the analysis of responses from our consultation on five HPMA candidate sites.
The three sites are:
- North East of Farnes Deep
- a modified version of Allonby Bay
- a modified version of Dolphin Head….
