Balanced Seas is one of four regional projects in England that will work with sea users and interest groups to identify and recommend Marine Conservation Zones to Government. It is a partnership project with the University of Kent, Kent County Council, Natural England and the Joint Nature Conservation Committee.

Balanced Seas covers inshore and offshore UK waters of the Eastern Channel and adjacent areas. It extends from just north of the Suffolk/Essex border, to the Hampshire/Dorset border in the south-west, and includes the Thames Estuary and the Solent.

Balanced Seas Newsletter 03 (1.09 MB)

Balanced Seas Newsletter 05 (1.66 MB)

Please find below the third Essex/Thames/North Kent Local Group meeting report and presentation.

Local Group3 Meeting Report

Local Group3 Presentation

 The success of Balanced Seas will depend in part on having good information about spatial use of the sea for the whole range of human activities that are undertaken there. They have therefore developed two mechanisms for collecting the necessary data.

1.       Questionnaires: as we have described at the various Balanced Seas stakeholder meetings, the project liaison officers are travelling around the project area interviewing fishermen, anglers, and watersports enthusiasts to collect information on how they use the marine environment.  We do not expect members of the RSG or Local Groups to get involved in managing this activity, as it is the responsibility of the Project Team, but we do hope that you will feel willing to encourage those in your sector to participate and to take part yourself.  A first analysis of the data collected will be made available at the meeting of the RSG on 29th July, but data collection will continue up until the end of September.  Further information can be found on the Balanced Seas website.

2.       An on-line Interactive Map: this can be seen at www.mczmapping.org. The site has been developed nationally and covers all four regional MCZ project regions. The map can be used in two ways: people can either upload information about their marine activities, and the location of marine wildlife, notable habitats and geological features they have seen; or can look at the layers of data out of personal interest to discover more about their region's sea. All data that is uploaded will be analysed and passed on to the RSG and Local Groups to inform the MCZ recommendations process.  You might want to have a look at this and encourage your colleagues to use it.