New protection status for Dorset habitats

Long-awaited protection for some of Dorset’s richest marine habitats has been confirmed.

The Lyme Bay and Torbay Special Area of Conservation (SACs) is one of fifteen new Marine Protected Areas created this month. 

Following a lengthy selection and consultation process, the UK government has submitted the new areas to contribute to a European network of protected sites, known as Natura 2000. With this formal submission as a Candidate SAC, there will now be full legal protection for the sites’ habitats and species.

The Lyme Bay and Torbay SAC includes inshore waters from the western end of Chesil Beach in Dorset to Beer in Devon, including all of the important Lyme Bay Reefs.  The SAC status gives protection from activities that damage or threaten the reef habitats, which are very diverse and highly productive.

Peter Tinsley, Marine Conservation Officer at Dorset Wildlife Trust, said: “We have waited a long time and worked hard for this moment.  This European SAC is the first step to what we hope will be a network of protected areas for marine wildlife in Dorset and around the UK, safeguarding the full range of marine habitats found in our waters.”

A second Dorset site is under further consideration.  The Portland to Studland Reefs, which include Dorset Wildlife Trust’s long established voluntary Purbeck Marine Wildlife Reserve, have been singled out by Natural England as exceptionally diverse and further time is being allowed to incorporate new information from Dorset Wildlife Trust’s DORIS seabed mapping project.