UK: Enviros welcome Dorset's first MPA
Dorset’s first offshore marine protected area has been welcomed by conservationists, who are delighted that a stretch at Purbeck is also being considered.
The Lyme Bay and Torbay Special Area of Conservation, with its unique reefs, is one of 15 new Marine Protected Areas created in August.
It will become part of a European network of protected sites, known as Natura 2000 and the formal submission gives full legal protection for the sites’ habitats and species.
The Portland to Studland Reefs, which include Dorset Wildlife Trust’s long established voluntary Purbeck Marine Wildlife Reserve, have been singled out by Natural England as exceptionally diverse and further time is being allowed to incorporate new information from the Doris seabed mapping project.