“The financial cost argument is a powerful one, used to argue against protecting some of our vital marine assets, but we can show that if you take into account even just a proportion of the wider benefits to society and the economy, then the odds are in fact stacked in favour of protection, says Chris Williams, of the New Economics Foundation.

“For some sites, financial costs have been used as the reason to reject Marine Conservation Zones without valuing the wider socio-economic benefits in a balanced way, which should be the main driver of the decisions.  The decision-making tools – particularly the summary pages of Impact Assessments - are inherently biased against long term sustainability and wider societal benefits as they are focussed on costs to business.

The group says that such a short-term, narrowly framed appraisal could lead to decisions that jeopardise the long-term health and productivity of our seas.  It would also fail to safeguard the health and well-being benefits that people gain through time spent in healthy and productive marine and coastal places, and from knowing that our seas are protected for future generations.

Government traditionally relies on Cost Benefit Analysis (CBA) as a tool to support environmental decision-making, but looking beyond this rather limiting approach may lead to better outcomes for people and the ocean.

“The purpose of our ‘Infographic Impact Assessment’ is to present trade-offs in a way showing a more holistic range of criteria to consider when decision-makers are thinking about safeguarding our seas, instead of the narrow focus on costs.’’

Recently published research indicates that divers and anglers attach an annual value of over 14 million pounds to protection of these MCZs and that they would also support significant benefits to people which cannot be measured in monetary terms and which are currently being overlooked.

So far, 27 new MCZs have been designated from an original list of 127 recommended by regional stakeholder groups in 2012.  Defra is currently reviewing consultation responses on 23 more sites.  While consideration of some prospective sites becomes very focused on the monetized costs in Impact Assessment summary sheets, the visual impact assessment includes monetized benefit estimates.  A consultation on a third tranche of sites is expected in 2016 and it is hoped that the approach can help decision-makers value these marine sites holistically when deciding on their designation.