For the last ten years, Brighton Marina has had a license to dump dredged waste from the Marina into the Beachy Head West Marine Conservation Zone (MCZ). As the license is now up for renewal, there is a rare chance to stop this.
Sussex Wildlife Trust has issued a “call to action” and argues that, although the original license was granted prior to the MCZ being designated, there is no reason why the disposal should continue as this is an area where vulnerable or unique marine species, such as blue mussel beds, short-snouted seahorses and littoral chalk communities and their habitat, are meant to be protected.
The disposal of waste is just one of several damaging activities allowed in the Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) under license from the Marine Management Organisation (MMO) or the Environment Agency. Other destructive actions include discharges of sewage, bottom trawling and dredging for aggregates.
Set up in 2009, the MMO remit includes not only the development of economically important activities like fishing and offshore energy but also the establishment of additional marine nature reserves, effectively marine conservation zones. These complement areas previously designated under international agreements as Special Protected Areas. All the East Sussex offshore coast from Brighton to Rye is now, in theory, protected but how strong is this protection?
UK system not fit for purpose
In 2023, the MMO renewed the license for the disposal of waste from the dredged Sovereign Harbour Eastbourne for another ten years. There was little public consultation, few comments from environmental organisations and the renewal went against the advice of the Centre for Environmental Fisheries and Aquaculture Science (CEFAS) – the scientific arm of the MMO. CEFAS had advised that the license should not be granted as the risk to the environment was unclear.
Normally, licenses for the dumping of waste are approved if the material is considered not to damage the marine environment. Forming an opinion can be done by either analysing samples before the material is deposited or by monitoring the ecological effects afterwards.
The UK criteria for analysing samples was set up in 1994 and has not changed significantly since. In 2015, a high-level government committee considered the UK system was “not fit for purpose”. 120,000 chemicals are manufactured and imported into Europe but, at this time, the UK only analysed samples for a small number – mainly heavy metals. As well as not keeping up with the range of chemicals manufactured, the committee noted that in the UK, the levels for the prohibition of disposal of samples with toxic contaminants are higher than in most other developed countries. In short, the UK allows more toxic waste to be disposed of at sea than most other developed countries.
Discharge and more discharge
It’s not just that UK system is outdated. The analyses that are done do not include bioassays, that is methods that utilise living materials to determine the potential toxicity of chemicals, or the biotoxicity of the samples. Many chemicals which end up in the sea are known to be harmful to the aquatic environment but, as Sussex Wildlife Trust argue, there is no way of knowing whether the current deposits are damaging because insufficient monitoring is done. This makes the disposal of waste in MPAs even more egregious.
As well as the dumping of waste, other activities at odds with the protection of vulnerable marine life and habitats are allowed in protected areas. Bottom trawling, for example, is known to destroy the seabed, but there is no blanket ban in MPAs. Byelaws to prohibit this have recently been put in place for 13 MPAs, but it is a lengthy process and it will take many years for the activity to be prohibited in all hundred or so MPAs.
Then there is the discharge into MPAs of raw sewage, runoff and other contaminants by water companies. In the two Beachy Head MCZs – East and West – there are two wastewater treatment works: Bexhill and Hastings, and Eastbourne. In 2023, Bexhill and Hastings discharged untreated wastewater into this marine protected area for over 2,020 hours – that is for over five hours each day, and Eastbourne discharged for over 740 hours! And this does not include discharges from over 15 other sewer outfalls along this coast. All of this is licensed by the Environment Agency, surely a public scandal?
Pollution of the sea is largely hidden from public view – that is until dead sea creatures are washed up on the beaches in large numbers as they were on the Yorkshire coast in 2021. The official report of this incident suggested failed to clearly establish the cause. However, local people point to dumping of waste from the dredging of the Tees estuary for the new Freeport. Environmental NGOs are now trying to highlight our treatment of the sea. They deserve interest and support.
Call to action
If the government is committed to marine conservation, then activities which damage the MPAs should be prohibited. It should not be left to environmental groups and the public to argue about the effects every time a license comes up for renewal. Concerned citizens should clearly be supporting Sussex Wildlife Trust’s “call to action”.
Note: If you want to know what is happening along your stretch of coast take a look at the MMO map. Unfortunately, the terrestrial and marine maps are not joined up so this does not show the sewage outfalls as these come under the Environment Agency and, for those, look at the Rivers Trust.
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