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BLUE is proud to announce that Callum Roberts, BLUE’s Chief Scientific Adviser and Trustee, has been appointed to the Highly Protected Marine Areas review panel.
The seven-strong advisory panel will examine whether and how the strongest protections for areas of English sea, known as Highly Protected Marine Areas, could be introduced. The Panel will be Chaired by the Rt Hon Richard Benyon MP, a former Minister of Fisheries and will report by January 2020.
Callum Roberts said: “This review represents a hugely welcome development in conservation policy and practice for our seas. In other countries that have established highly protected marine areas, there have been vigorous recoveries of depleted species and habitats degraded and damaged by human activities.
“Such protected areas could potentially yield a wide variety of benefits to marine life here, helping rebuild the abundance and variety of life, supporting local livelihoods and community wellbeing, and promoting resilience to climate change and its effects.”
The other six panel members are:
- Joan Edwards, Director of Living Seas at The Wildlife Trusts;
- Michel Kaiser, Professor of Fisheries Conservation, Heriot Watt University, Edinburgh;
- Nathan de Rozarieux, inshore fisherman and fisheries consultant;
- Susan Owens OBE, FBA, Emeritus Professor of Environment and Policy, University of Cambridge, and Fellow Emerita of Newnham College;
- Peter Barham, facilitator for the Seabed User and Developer Group, a representative group of UK marine industries; and
- Benj Sykes, UK Country Manager of Ørsted’s Offshore wind business; Co-chair, Offshore Wind Industry Council with the Energy Minister.
