Overview

• Environmental Audit Committee urges a ban on bottom trawling, dredging and mining in all offshore marine protected areas
• Campaigners highlight that only three of the UK’s 178 marine protected areas fully bar extractive activities
• EAC report labels the 2011 marine policy statement outdated and notes the absence of a timeline for action
• MPs call on Defra to ratify the UN high seas treaty and publish legislation by September
• Pressure intensifies ahead of the UN oceans conference in Nice, where the UK is set to participate