Live Ships Map - AIS - Vessel Traffic and Positions. Great Pacific Garbage Patch. Scottish MPA Network. A Marine Protected Area is an area which has either/both marine biodiversity (species and habitats) and geodiversity (the variety of landforms and natural processes that underpin the marine landscapes), offering long-term support for the services our seas provide to society.
The Marine (Scotland) Act and the UK Marine and Coastal Access Act both contain new powers to designate Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) - a network of areas. These contribute to a range of measures to manage and protect our seas for current and future generations, or to allow them the space from human activity to recover to the state they should be to remain healthy and productive. In Scotland there are already many existing protected areas in our seas. These range from: Consultation Our aim is to achieve a well-managed network of Marine Protected Areas based on the principle of sustainable use.
In brief: Joint Statement by UK Administrations on Developing an Ecologically Coherent Network Scotland has 11 offshore SACs. Marine Protected Areas. OSPAR MPAs. OSPAR Network of Marine Protected Areas Introduction One of the tools that can be used to ensure the sustainable use and protection and conservation of marine biological diversity and its ecosystems is the implementation of Marine Protected Areas (MPAs).
The use of protected zones is a long established practice for the protection of resources and livelihoods. More recently MPAs have entered the international political arena. At the World Summit on Sustainable Development in 2002 world leaders committed themselves to creating representative networks of MPAs by 2012. Within OSPAR, MPAs are understood as areas for which protective, conservation, restorative or precautionary measures have been instituted for the purpose of protecting and conserving species, habitats, ecosystems or ecological processes of the marine environment. OSPAR Network of MPAs MPAs in areas beyond national jurisdiction Guidance for the development and management of the OSPAR network. Marine and Coastal Access Act. Issue Fishing provides billions of people with food, jobs and livelihoods.
The marine environment must be managed effectively to support a healthy marine ecosystem and fish stocks. The World Bank estimates that mismanagement of fisheries costs countries $50 billion a year. This includes $10 to $24 billion worth of fish that are caught illegally worldwide, depriving communities of income, food and jobs. EU fisheries, and EU interests in global fisheries, are managed through the current Common Fisheries Policy (CFP).
Radical reforms to the CFP were agreed in 2013 including commitments to eliminate discards, decentralise decision making away from Brussels, allowing Member States to work together to agree the detailed measures that are appropriate to their shared fisheries and legally binding requirements to set fishing rates at sustainable levels. Actions In Europe A historic deal to reform the broken CFP has been agreed and became law on 1 January 2014. In the UK We are: National Marine Protected Area Center. Marine Protected Areas. Google Earth: Ocean. Explore the ocean Watch video World of Deep Sea explored by “Shinkai 6500” A manned research vehicle, "Shinkai 6500", which is operated by JAMSTEC, will lead you to the world of unknown deep sea.
Download in Google Earth Ocean Seafloor Explore the seafloor with Columbia University's Lamont-Doherty Topography Synthesis and new data from CSUMB and UHM-SOEST. Watch video Deep Sea Vents Discover underwater volcanoes and hydrothermal vents with the Ridge 2000 Deep Sea Vents Tour. Watch video Pew Fellows 2013 Learn about the 2013 Pew Marine Fellows who are solving the challenges of ocean protection - one piece at a time. Watch video Indonesia Discovery Come on a joint Indonesia USA deep sea expedition.
Watch video Hope Spots II Watch video Hope Spots III Watch video Cousteau Ocean World In honor of Jacques Cousteau's 100th birthday, take a tour of the ocean with the Cousteau Society. Map of Oceans. Interactive map of UK MPA's. WCPA MPA Portal. National Geographic: MPA Map. OpenSeaMap: Startseite. UN Atlas of the Oceans. Blue Flag Programme.