Marine Conservation Advice for Allonby Bay HPMA Published.
This update highlights the publication of a Marine Conservation Advice package for Allonby Bay Highly Protected Marine Area (HPMA) in July 2023 and offers you the opportunity to send comments/feedback or suggest new relevant information.
Please send your comments to the Natural England HPMA mailbox (hpmas@naturalengland.org.uk) by Friday 15th September 2023.
All comments will be responded to after the ‘invitation to comment’ period has passed.
Defra designated the first three pilot Highly Protected Marine Areas (HPMAs) on Wednesday 5 July 2023, including Allonby Bay HPMA. Highly Protected Marine Areas have been designated under the Marine and Coastal Access Act 2009 as Marine Conservation Zones.
The Allonby Bay HPMA Conservation Advice package should be used in conjunction with the joint High-level Conservation Advice for HPMAs Natural England and JNCC published in November 2022.
The Allonby Bay HPMA Conservation Advice package is in a similar format to other Conservation Advice packages produced for Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) however, there is a new component bespoke for HPMAs called ‘Advice on Achieving the Conservation Objective of an HPMA’ which categorises activities as:
- – Activities which are likely to hinder the conservation objective of an HPMA and should be avoided, unless the Public Authority’s MCZ Assessment Process determines otherwise, and
- – Activities which may not hinder the conservation objective of an HPMA but must be assessed to establish non-damaging levels.
More information is available here