NONE of the offshore marine protected areas around the Isle of Wight are moving towards their conservation targets, Greenpeace has revealed.

Nationally, only five out of the UK’s 73 areas 'may be' moving towards their targets.

After revealing that supertrawlers spent 5,590 hours fishing in UK offshore protected areas in the first half of 2020, a new Greenpeace analysis has found that offshore protected areas around the Island are either classed as ‘unlikely’ to be progressing towards conservation targets, or there is no evidence on their progress at all.

The Bright Blue Seas report, which features a foreword by Chris Packham, examines the state of the UK’s network of offshore protected areas, those more than 12 nautical miles from the coast, and the destructive industrial fishing activity which continues to take place inside them.

Greenpeace’s report focuses on offshore protected areas because the UK Government will have new powers to regulate fishing in offshore waters after Britain’s departure from the Common Fisheries Policy.

Chris Thorne, an oceans campaigner at Greenpeace UK, said: “Our failing network of offshore protected areas is no surprise when you learn that destructive industrial fishing vessels like supertrawlers spend thousands of hours fishing in our protected areas every year.

"Government must ban supertrawlers and other destructive fishing vessels from operating in all our protected areas as a first step towards creating a network of fully or highly protected marine areas, covering at least 30 per cent of our waters.”

The MPAs around the Isle of Wight, along with their respective conservation status, are listed below.

Offshore Overfalls — Unlikely to be progressing towards conservation targets

Offshore Brighton — Unlikely to be progressing towards conservation targets

Wight Barfleur Reef — Unlikely to be progressing towards conservation targets

West of Wight Barfleur — No information on progress towards conservation objectives

South Dorset — Unlikely to be progressing towards conservation targets

Inner Bank — No information on progress towards conservation objectives

Bassurelle Sandbank — No information on progress towards conservation objectives