MPA’s around the Isle of Man
Although the Isle of Man is a Crown dependency of the UK, it has its own government and makes its own laws concerning the protection of its territory. Manx territorial waters extend out to 12 miles around its coastline, slightly less in the north where it meets Scottish waters, and as such makes up nearly 90% of all Manx territory.
The Isle of Man currently has five marine protected areas, designated as fisheries closed or restricted areas, primarily for the enhancement of the scallop stocks. The longest running of these is the Port Erin closed area, which was established in 1989 and is recognised world wide for its success. The Manx fishermen have seen the benefits of closing patches of sea bed to dredging and have since requested other areas also be closed or restricted. Subsequently, Douglas Bay was closed to mobile fishing gear in 2008 and Niarbyl Bay and Laxey Bay were closed in 2009. Additionally, Niarbyl Bay and Laxey Bay were seeded with juvenile scallops, in a new ‘ranching’ project. This will monitor their survival and growth over time in order to establish the most sustainable way to harvest them. In late 2009, Ramsey Bay was also closed as an emergency measure to protect the scallop stock as the fishermen could see it was being damaged. Ramsey Bay was also seeded with juvenile scallops, in 2010, which were tagged so that their survival and movement can be monitored.
A three year Manx Marine Nature Reserve project was started in November 2008, aiming to designate the first marine protected area primarily for the conservation of habitats and species. With the support of the Manx fishing industry, Ramsey Bay and the Ballacash channel to the north has been selected and will hopefully be officially designated in 2011. The area has been selected as it has three habitats considered as priorities for conservation under international conventions. These are horse mussel reefs, maerl beds and eelgrass meadows. They are all areas that are very important for juvenile species of fish and support hundreds of other animal species. However, they take many years to build up and are very sensitive to being damaged by human activities. By protecting these areas as a Marine Nature Reserve, the habitats and species will be allowed to recover from any damage that has been done and to thrive into the future.
