A basking shark (Ceterhinus maximus) feeds on plankton concentrated in surface waters close to the island of Coll, Inner Hebrides. Scotland, UK. North East Atlantic Ocean. Photographed in June 2011. - Alexander Mustard/2020VISION
Help bring our seas back to life
This campaign is now closed
In 2020 the Benyon review of Highly Protected Marine Areas (HPMAs) was published by Defra. The Wildlife Trusts backed its recommendations that HPMAs should be an essential part of the UK network for protection and recovery of the marine environment, and that the UK Government should introduce HPMAs as soon as possible.
What did the panel recommend to the UK Government?
The panel's recommendations have now been published - and we're delighted that these are in line with what we asked for. The headlines in the report include:
- HPMAs should ban all destructive activities including fishing and only allow non-damaging levels of other activities e.g. swimming, kayaking, scuba diving.
- HPMAs should take a whole-site approach, protecting all species and habitats within their boundaries.
- HPMA sites should have sufficient geographic spread to cover nearshore, inshore and offshore waters and different regional seas.
The Government must implement the recommendations as soon as possible, and publish an ambitious HPMA delivery plan within the year.