Please email your MP to ask them to vote to strengthen the Marine Bill. This is our last chance to get protection for the marine ecosystem as a whole into the Bill.

Please act now. Parliament is voting on this issue on Monday 26th October.

How to email your MP

1. Go to Friends of the Earth’s “Contact your MP” page and enter your postcode: http://www.foe.co.uk/community/resource/contact_mp.html
2. Choose “Email this MP”
3. Paste in the text under the “Suggested Letter” heading, remembering to add your MP’s name at the top and your own name at the bottom.

You can also visit your MP in your constituency this weekend (Friday/Saturday). Telephone your MP’s constituency office to find out whether this is possible.
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Marine Reserves Leaflet - Sept 2009

We have created a new leaflet calling on people to contact their MP, urging them to support the soon-to-be-tabled MARINET amendment to the Marine and Coastal Access Bill. This amendment will establish a requirement within the bill to create an ecologically coherent network of Highly Protected Marine Reserves (or Highly Protected “Marine Conservation Zones”, to use the Government terminology).

Click on the picture of the leaflet to the right to access the PDF version and please print as many of these leaflets as you require for distribution. If you prefer, email bill.rigby@marinereserves.org.uk to request copies. The leaflets will also be available at the MARINET stall at the Friends of the Earth conference this weekend, so if you will be there, please come to the stall to collect your copies of the leaflet.

As expected, now that the Bill has reached the House of Commons, little time is being wasted in progressing the business.  The full text shows how well briefed many members are.  The Minster, Hilary Benn, was pressed from the very beginning of his presentation on the key themes – ecological coherence, highly protected marine reserves, the impact of EU legislation, etc.  The moral authority of the interventions was reinforced by the strong backing for EDM 337, which on this day has gained 211 signatures.

Serious students are also directed to the video of the session, where the business of the Marine Bill can be seen (start at about one third of the way through the clip).

Despite detailed and extensive debate during April and May of the Marine and Coastal Access Bill in the House of Lords, both during its Committee and Report Stage, the Government has resisted all arguments and attempts to have highly protected marine reserves (HPMRs) incorporated into the text of the legislation.
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