UK’s largest sandbank to be fully protected
Banning of controversial fishing technique that threatens marine life framed as a ‘Brexit Bonus’
Puffins and kittiwakes are among the wildlife winners following the government’s decision to protect the biggest sandbank in the UK, Dogger Bank, from damaging fishing practices in a move welcomed by campaigners. Dogger Bank lies in the southern North Sea and provides a crucial habitat for a wide range of marine life including hermit crabs, flatfish and starfish, as well as commercial species such as cod and sandeels.
Despite being designated one of the UK’s 76 Marine Protected Areas (MPAs), Dogger Bank has been subjected to increasing levels of bottom trawling, a controversial fishing technique that causes widespread damage to wildlife and the seabed.
Environment secretary George Eustice says: “Outside the EU, we are using our new freedoms to protect our marine environment. We will be stopping trawling and dredging in these Marine Protected Areas to protect wildlife and habitats, through powers we have in our Fisheries Act 2020.”
Banning bottom trawling on Dogger Bank will benefit seabirds that feed on sandeels, which are a vital food source for species including puffins and kittiwakes. “It’s fantastic to see much-needed protection offered to sandeels and the wildlife that depends on them,” says the RSPB’s Ruby Temple-Long. “They may seem innocuous but sandeels are one of the most important fish in our waters and protecting them is key to supporting much of our amazing marine life above and below the waves.”
In addition to Dogger Bank, three other MPAs will be protected from bottom trawling. These are Inner Dowsing, Race Bank and North Ridge, which lies off the south Lincolnshire coast; the South Dorset marine conservation zone and the Canyons marine conservation zone, which lies more than 320km off Land’s End in Cornwall.
However, environmental campaigners are calling for protection from bottom trawling for all the UK’s MPAs. “We need the government to get us on track this year to fully or highly protect all of our Marine Protected Areas,” says Fiona Nicholls from Greenpeace UK. “That means, as a starting point, banning all destructive industrial fishing vessels. This could be done using post-Brexit powers to restrict fishing licences.”