The Marine Management Organisation (MMO) have launched Your Coast – Explore, Enjoy, Protect, a new external campaign encouraging coastal communities to play a role in shaping the management of recreational activities in England’s MPAs. This campaign begins with a special appeal for people to submit photographs and images of seabed habitats and protected wildlife. […]
The Marine Management Organisation (MMO) is inviting people to contribute to a new call for evidence on the impacts of marine recreational activities and anchoring within England’s marine protected areas (MPAs). This call for evidence supports MMO’s marine non-licensable activities (mNLA) assessment. MMO is assessing the impacts of marine recreational activities and anchoring within […]
The Wildlife Trusts are brining people together via a series of online workshops to co-develop a UK Marine Citizen Science Strategy. This initiative arose from discussions at recent UK Marine Citizen Science Network. Anyone with with an interest in UK marine citizen science, including leaders of marine citizen science projects, marine citizen science volunteers and […]
The UK Government has published a report on the impact of their Blue Belt programme over the last decade. It shows how the Government’s £20 million Blue Belt Programme, and collaboration with the UK Overseas Territories, has improved protection and management of key marine ecosystems. n 2016, only 5% of the world’s ocean was formally […]
Closes 11 September 2026 The Marine Management Organisation (MMO) has aunched the latest monitoring survey for all marine plan areas in England, providing an opportunity for stakeholders to feedback on marine plan application and effectiveness. If you are a decision-maker, or have experience of using marine plans or even just an interest in them they […]
The University of Exeter has been awarded £939,434 by Natural England’s Species Recovery Programme to lead a major new 3 year project investigating the movement, breeding grounds and conservation status of three of England’s most vulnerable shark species: blue shark, porbeagle and tope. These species are all found in English waters and tope and porbeagle are […]
Consultation close: 14th October 2026 The Scottish Government is currently consulting on 5 Fisheries Management Plans (FMPs) for pelagic fish stocks. This is a joint consultation between the Welsh, Scottish, Northern Irish and UK governments and covers: North Sea herring West Coast of Scotland and Clyde herring Atlanto-Scandian herring Northern Shelf mackerel Northern Shelf blue […]
This paper explains how the government will deliver its commitment to protect 30% of land for nature in England by 2030. It sets out how the Government will work with and support stakeholders and landowners to manage and protect their land for nature for the long term and contribute towards the Government’s 30by30 commitment. It complements […]
This report builds on the work of a Rural Taskforce established in 2025 by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra), comprising external partners and departments across Whitehall to gain a better understanding of the challenges faced by rural communities and how government can support rural businesses and communities, tackle rural disadvantage, and […]
The first Joint Fisheries Statement (JFS) Report has now been published, covering the period November 2022 to November 2025. This is a statutory report. The Joint Fisheries Statement (JFS) can be accessed here. It sets out the policies designed to deliver the eight fisheries objectives established under the Fisheries Act 2020 and has been formally developed […]