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Call for action to save Wales marine life

By Jason Heller, November 5, 2007 @ 02:00 AM (EST)

WWF Cymru is calling on Prime Minister Gordon Brown to include a full Marine Bill in the Queen’s Speech to save wildlife in Wales for future generations.The charity has made the plea ahead of Tuesday’s Queen’s Speech to Parliament.Without such a bill, WWF Cymru says our marine habitat and wildlife will pay the price, especially the bottlenose dolphin, long-snouted sea horse and pink seafan coral, which are all found in Welsh waters.The group says bottom trawling, scallop dredging, sand and gravel extraction are all taking their toll on our marine environment, but so too are unregulated activities such as bait digging, unlicensed commercial fishing and water-based recreation.In the report, Can We Have the Bill Please, WWF Cymru warns marine species and habitats, which should be protected under UK and European legislation, are still under threat and disappearing from our waters at an alarming rate.Dr Iwan Ball, senior marine policy officer at WWF Cymru said: “Our seas have been in decline for some time and it is imperative the Government addresses the urgency of the situation.WWF Cymru says horse mussel beds off Anglesey have disappeared, probably due to fishing, while our only substantial maerl bed is threatened by underwater construction work in Milford Haven. Seagrass beds are also at risk from bait-digging.

Comments

Nov 9, 2007 7:33 AM

Charles Stirling wrote:

The Queens speech has now been presented in the UK, this is the governments projection of planned legislative action for the next year. The Marine Protection Bill has effectively been sidelined yet again by calling for another "Draft Bill" which can sound good in publicity but means it goes for consultation without actually doing anything. This is the 3rd such consultation. A detailed draft for a bill was available from the last "Draft Bill" but conservation in the UK (land and especially marine) has little support from political parties as the new buzz word is Climate Change which usurps all else.

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