Wales MCZ GIS reporting tool, WCB006 Marine protected Areas Project

Descriptions

The Welsh Assembly Government intends to use the new Marine Conservation Zone (MCZ) designation power provided in the Marine and Coastal Access Act 2009 to create a small number of sites afforded a high level of protection, to contribute to the network of Marine Protected Areas in Welsh and UK waters. The MCZ Project Wales covers Welsh waters to the 12 nautical mile (nm) line offshore. English waters and waters beyond 12 nm will be subject to a separate process of selecting MCZs.The selection of MCZs will be carried out as a phased process. Initially ecological guidelines will be used to select 15 to 25 Focus Sites. This list will then be refined to 6 to 12 Potential Sites partly using a scoring system (which assigns points to each site depending on the occurrence of broadscale and important habitats and areas important for productivity)