Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what estimate he has made of the number and proportion of the marine protected area network is in (a) effective management and (b) favorable condition.

We have established a comprehensive network of Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) covering 40% of English waters and last year introduced a new statutory MPA target. All MPAs are protected through the planning and licensing process. We are also working with regulators to introduce any necessary additional management measures. 60% of the 181 English MPAs are already protected from damaging fishing activity through byelaws, including the new byelaw announced in February to ban bottom trawling in a further 13 MPAs. Our scientific advisors (Natural England and the Joint Nature Conservation Committee) are developing an MPA monitoring strategy to assess progress towards meeting the statutory MPA target, including whether the necessary management measures are in place. The current estimate is that 44% of our protected features are in favourable condition.