If anybody lives in Richard Drax MP's constituency can you ask him to also represent your views at the upcoming meeting with the Minister David Rutley about making Studland Bay a MCZ.
It appears he is only going to represent the views of the anti MCZ group the BORG (most of whom do not live in his area and so he cannot represent legally them) and not those amongst you who want Studland Bay to become a MCZ.
We feel that as he is an elected member of parliament he is duty bound to represent all views evenly and without bias and this includes those of you that also want Studland Bay as an MCZ.
His direct e-mail is
richard.drax.mp@parliament.uk if you want to contact him and please say to him that seahorses and seagrass is legally protected in England and has been since we got the seahorses added to the WCA back in 2008.
They are included in schedule 5, section 9 which is the highest protection in the land and this quite clearly states that:-
(part4a) it is illegal to cause damage to, destruction of, obstruction of access to any structure or place used by a scheduled animal for shelter or protection
(part4b) they are protected from disturbance as an animal occupying such a structure or place
So they are legally covered as is the seagrass they live in, added to this is the Precautionary Principle which is enshrined in UK that 'In order to protect the environment, the precautionary approach shall be widely applied by States according to their capabilities. Where there are threats of serious or irreversible damage' [Anchor damage]
Aside from these two legally binding laws they are also a Biodiversity Action Plan (BAP) species (as seagrass is a BAP habitat) and protected by a wide variety of other laws, rules and regulations and as such even if a MCZ status was not awarded to Studland Bay action still has to legally be taken to protect the seahorses and their place of shelter (the seagrass) and we will be pushing even harder than ever to make sure this is done.
Could you also tell Mr Drax that a petition was undertaken by the trust and so many of its partners which was signed by 153,000 people asking for the site to become a MCZ and he should listen to the majority view (an anti MCZ petition failed to get more than a couple of thousand signatures)
There was also a local petition undertaken in the village of Studland (ironically pushed by a several members of the BORG; one in particular) which showed a very clear majority of local residents (2 thirds) wanted an MCZ in one form or another, many (1 third) wanted a complete ban on the boats in the area, sadly this was quickly dropped by the Parish council as it did not represent the views of certain local members.
Most importantly he needs to know that here at The Seahorse Trust we do not and have never asked for a ban on boats using the area and so there would be no economic impact to the area. We do, however ask that Environmentally Friendly Moorings (EFM’s) are used for the boats to moor up to rather than anchors being dropped into this legally protected habitat (Every time they do this they break the law)
IN fact Studland Bay weathered the economic downturn in 2008 onwards because of Eco-tourism. Tens of thousands of people visited the area to see its natural beauty in large part due to the extensive publicity we achieved about the plight of seahorses in the bay. These visitors use hotels B and B’s shops, pubs and a host of other facilities in the wider area, rather than just the café on the beach and the local pub in Studland village and they contribute millions to the local economy directly benefitting the large community.
So as you can see a MCZ will be good for Studland Bay, will benefit a wider local economy to the tune of millions of pounds per annum and crucially it will benefit not only seahorses and seagrass but all those other legally protected species on the site, such as English Oysters, Truncated anemones and Undulate Rays. All of which are already legally protected (to the same level as seahorses) and action will need to be taken with or without an MCZ.:
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