The Marine protected area (MPA) network is a subset of existing protected sites that have marine features. Sites include: SACs, SPAs, Ramsars, SSSIs and MCZs.
What features are considered marine is determined through expert groups of SNCBs led by JNCC. The list of MPA network features are hosted by JNCC https://hub.jncc.gov.uk/assets/8ee15786-510b-44e4-819e-e6681a1abd96.
The need for a coherent and well managed MPA network is underpinned by the legislation Marine and Coastal access act and MFSD (UK Marine Strategy). This has been driven by our commitment to OSPAR (Oslo Paris convention) and CBD (Convention on biological diversity). NRW are the custodians of MPAs within 12nm (Welsh territorial waters), sites that are found in out offshore waters are hosted by JNCC and can be downloaded from their website https://jncc.gov.uk/mpa-mapper/.
