Marine Conservation Advice for Allonby Bay HPMA Update.
An update on the publication of a Marine Conservation Advice package for Allonby Bay Highly Protected Marine Area (HPMA) was produced in November 2024. You now have the opportunity to send comments/feedback or suggest new relevant information.
Defra designated the first three pilot Highly Protected Marine Areas (HPMAs) on Wednesday 5th 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.
What does the advice consist of?
The Allonby Bay HPMA Conservation Advice package is in a similar format to other Conservation Advice packages produced for Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) however, they have developed a new component bespoke for HPMAs called ‘Advice on Achieving the Conservation Objective of an HPMA’ which categorises activities as:
- likely to hinder the conservation objective of an HPMA and should be avoided, unless the Public Authority’s MCZ Assessment Process determines otherwise, and
- may hinder the conservation objective of an HPMA but must be assessed to establish non-damaging levels.
What are the main changes published in this update?
- Inclusion of further advice for every activity categorised as ‘may hinder the conservation objective’, which includes many recreational activities and one commercial activity (commercial hovercraft)
- Inclusion of a caveat around emergency situations
- Added information on Natural England’s ‘Definition of Damage’, as applied to their advice
- Reworded the introduction to make it clearer that whether an activity appears on the ‘likely to hinder the conservation objective’ or ‘may hinder the conservation objective’ category, it still needs to go through the MCZ assessment process. This includes a change to the wording of the second activity category from ‘may not hinder the conservation objective’ to ‘may hinder the conservation objective’. Note this is not a change to the underlying advice, just to the category title.
Where to find marine conservation advice packages?
The Allonby Bay HPMA package can be accessed via the Marine Protected Areas: conservation advice packages collection on .GOV.UK, alongside previously published advice. You can also navigate directly to the packages by using the search tool on Designated Sites View or via the Index Map.
How has the advice been produced?
To develop this advice Natural England carried out an assessment using the best available evidence. The advice is based on an assessment of the most commonly occurring activities and their associated pressures, and the current understanding of the sensitivity of marine habitats and species to these pressures, to determine whether an activity is likely to hinder the achievement of the HPMA conservation objective.
Invitation to comment
You are invited to comment on the updated draft of the Allonby Bay HPMA Conservation Advice package. Please refer to the accompanying document of specific questions when compiling your feedback, as there are certain elements that they would particularly value feedback on.
They also welcome general comments on the following:
- the clarity of the advice
- the quality of the evidence used and whether you hold any better information that would improve the advice
- whether it is clear how this advice informs the following:
- proactive management
- completing a MCZ assessment
Although they have not been altered since the previous publication update, NE would also welcome any comments you have on the HPMA guidance and supporting material available on the MPA CA Guidance page to reflect HPMAs, for example which ones do you consider to be useful and how can they be improved?
NE very much look forward to your feedback.
Please send your comments to the Natural England HPMA mailbox by Friday 31st January 2025: hpmas@naturalengland.org.uk