Government reject advice for further protected areas

The UK's seas are to be protected by 31 new conservation zones, ministers have announced. However, they have rejected advice to create 127 zones.

Together, the 31 zones cover an area three times the size of Cornwall, and will help prevent trawling and dredging destroying life on the ocean floor.

Environment Minister Richard Benyon said: "The UK has one of the world's richest marine environments, and we need to make sure it stays that way. We have to get this right. Designating the right sites in the right places, so that our seas are sustainable, productive and healthy, and to ensure that the right balance is struck between conservation and industry."

However, conservationists are describing the rejection of a further 96 zones, some of which that would have banned all activity, as "pitiful" and a "bitter disappointment".

Fifty-eight of the rejected zones are said to be severely threatened and in need of immediate protection.

Jean-Luc Solandt, of the Marine Conservation Society, said: "There is so much at risk if those 58 sites are not all designated; Lagoon sand shrimps, native oysters, black bream, spiny lobsters and short snouted seahorses to name just a few. The populations of these creatures along with their habitat could be decimated in the coming months."

But Benyon said that the scientific evidence base for a large proportion of the zones was "just not up to scratch".

"We have managed to do this at a very difficult economic time," he added. "It is proportionate and is not going to put anyone out of business." He also cited the importance of fisheries, sand and gravel dredging, and marine renewable energy.

The government will consult on the 31 zones and the specific protection they need until March 2013. The zones may be designated by late summer, according to Benyon.