West Cornwall Friends of the Earth (FOE) is a formal constituted local group of individuals, passionate about the protection and enhancement of the natural environment for the benefit of plants, wildlife and people. West Cornwall FOE are one of four local Friends of the Earth groups in Cornwall, along with Lizard Peninsula FOE, Bude FOE and Falmouth FOE and represent both Friends of the Earth’s national campaigns and our own local environmental priorities. This response is made on behalf of all four Cornwall-based FOE groups and calls on the Government to ensure the designation of all of the currently proposed Cornish Marine Conservation Zones (MCZs) as a minimum, with a commitment to developing the scale and scope of the MCZ network, for the benefit of both the flora and fauna of these particularly important habitats and ecosystems as well as the local communities who live and work along our coasts.
With the longest stretch of coastline in the UK and a challenged and deprived local economy dominated by tourism and other activities related to the sea, the protection and careful management of the waters around Cornwall is vital to the sustainability of ourunique wildlife, culture and economy.
Marine Conservation Zones, created under theMarine and Coastal Access Act (2009), are designed to protect the marine ecosystem from destructive practices, however any decision to ban certain practices is taken on asite-by-site basis.In 2013 it wasestimatedthat in total, the area coverage of all the UK Marine Protected Areas (including designated and candidate SACs, SPAs, Lundy MCZ, NTZs and MNRs) was roughly 4.1 million hectares, or around 4.0 % of UK waters.
Following the massive under-designation of the proposed first tranche of MCZs(where the accompanying consultation saw 73% of responses calling for the designation of all 127 proposed MCZs rather than the 27 progressed), just 4 Cornish MCZs have been designated to date: Whitsands Bay and Looe, Padstow Bay and surrounds, Upper Fowey and Pont Pill, and the Manacles.
West Cornwall Friends of the Earth would like the Government to ensure that all of the 4 proposed MCZs in Cornwall (Mount’s Bay, Land’s End, Hartland Point to Tintagel and The Gannel) receive designation under the current plans.
At11km2, the Mounts Bay recommended MCZ stretches from the eastern side of the bay to encompass the world-famous St Michael's Mount and the Marazion area. A range of habitats can be found in Mounts Bay but the most dominant is high energy rock and sand. This environment is home to several important species such as Seagrass, Stalked Jellyfish and Crayfish, as well asDolphins, Porpoises and Basking Sharks. The area is adjacent to Newlyn, one of the country's largest fishing ports and home to many fishermen, who have been consulted on the positioning of this site, and whose traditional livelihoods are so reliant on the health of the surrounding marine environment.
To highlight a few important examples, as many as three species of Stalked Jellyfish have been found in the area; there is asmall population of Ocean Quahog, as well as Giant Goby - more commonly found way to the south – also found in the area.
The proposed MCZ at Land’s End, one of the most iconic points anywhere on the UK coastline, is only 19km2 yet contains a variety of habitats, mostly "high energy"(high wave and tide action)habitats, including the Runnelstone reef and Gwennap Head.Theexposed shoreline has granite cliffs and sandy inlets. Underwater, a diversity of species colonise the rocky reef, such as the Pink Sea Fan, Dead Man's Fingers and Cup Corals. It’s is one of the UK's best spots for critically endangered Balearic Shearwaters, which visit and feed in the area.
The site is listed specificallyfor its high energy intertidal rock; intertidal coarse sediment; intertidal sand and muddy sand; intertidal mud; high energy infralittoral rock; moderate energy infralittoral rock; high energy circalittoral rock; moderate energy circalittoral rock; subtidal coarse sediment and subtidal sand.
The suggested boundary of the recommended ‘Gannel’ MCZ includes the Gannel estuary, stretching along its seaward boundary; an area of 9km2 alongside the Cornish coast, around the popular tourist resort of Newquay.
This area encompasses a number of different habitats, which includes intertidal rocky habitats, both fine and coarse intertidal sediment, coastal saltmarsh and saline reedbeds, as well as subtidal habitats ranging from sands and gravels to rocky reef.
The deeper reefs such as Pol Texas and Medusa Reef are dominated by short bryozoan and hydroid turf, with small Branching Sponges and Pink Seafans on vertical surfaces.This wealth of habitats supports several important species such as the protected Pink Seafan, Crayfish and European Eel. Other commercially important species include Sandeels, which burrow and hide in the sand and gravel to avoid predators. Salmon migrate up the estuary to breed here and other wildlife at the site include the Giant Goby, Native Oyster, Sea Snail (Paludinella), Ballan Wrasse, Corkwing Wrasse, Cuckoo Wrasse,Goldsinny, Pollack,Rock Cook and Seabass.
Running along the north Cornish coast, the Hartland Point to Tintagel proposed MCZ is 304km2 and runs from the shore lineto depths of approximately 50 metres.With steep rocky cliffs, sea caves and stretches of sandy surf beaches, this rugged coast is exposed to high levels of wave energy.
Near to the shore, gently sloping bedrock is dominated by a number of notable algae and kelp forest species. Lower shore habitats have exceptionally fine colonies of the reef-building Honeycomb Worms –widely regarded as some of the finest found in Britain. They revel in the particularly silty conditions on the shore.
Mussel beds are extensive in the northern half of the bay. In deeper waters, vertical and upward facing underwater rock is dominated by Bryozoans, Sea Squirts and Sponges.The variety of habitats here support a multitude of fish species such asBallan Wrasse, Corkwing Wrasse, Goldsinny, Pollack and Seabass. Corals such asPink Seafans, and other marine life such as Peacock’s Tail Algae, live here.
Due to the diversity within this area, this MCZ is potentially important for Cetaceans and Sharks, especially Porbeagle Sharks. Shaped like a torpedo with a pointed snout, the porbeagle shark has come under severe pressure from fishing and is classed as 'vulnerable' on the IUCN's list of threatened species.
West Cornwall Friends of the Earth, on behalf of all Cornish FOE groups, would urge the Government to ensure the designation of each of these four sites as an absolute minimum to protect the unique Cornish coastline and surrounding seas for both the benefit of local people and wildlife, as well as the additional offshore MCZs in waters around Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly and the proposed additions to the existing MCZs.
We would also strongly encourage the Government and decision makers to review the wealth of scientific evidence on the benefits of additional, enhanced protection for wildlife (including sustainably managed fish stocks that support local, small-scale fisherman in our area). We would strongly support a review of both the scale of the proposed MCZs in Cornwall and across the UK and, importantly, the level of ‘protection’ that designation as an MCZ actually provides. West Cornwall FOE believe current provisions to be woefully inadequate in providing any tangible reduction in the risk of damage to the local wildlife and, ultimately, the local economy,from a range of potentially hazardous practices.
The current MCZ proposals offer no defined protection from these damaging practices in spite of the fact that there is much evidence from other countriesthat introducing marine protected areas where destructive fishing methods like bottom trawling and scallop dredging remain permitted offer no identifiable benefit, compared to those where only sustainable fishing practices that favour local fisherman are allowed, or where there is complete protection.
We would therefore ask the Government to see the current proposal as an accepted minimum standard and to commit to develop the MCZs programme in consultation with both conservation and scientific bodies, and local fishing industries in areas such as Newlyn, to ensure that important marine habitats are offered proper protection that will ensure the health of local wildlife and the sustainability of local, small-scale fishing industries and tourism opportunities in coastal communities in Cornwall and beyond.