What others have to say...
“….[Lyme Bay] may be one of the five most significant areas of biodiversity round the English Coast…”
DEFRA, September 2007
“You can tell immediately you’ve been on a scalloped bit of ground because there are boulders ripped out the ground…It’s not bad where they haven’t been, although they try to get everywhere.”
Dive Charter Boat Skipper
“Two years ago this scalloping boom started, we had 23 out here at one stage and they went over everything, it didn’t matter where it was. They just obliterated the lot right the way up through to Weymouth…they totally disregarded the voluntary no-go areas.”
Semi-retired West Bay Potter
“The key necessary biodiversity conservation mechanism in Lyme Bay at present is to stop the homogenisation of the rocky seabed and the removal of long-lived and slow growing species by heavy mobile fishing gear.”
Dr Keith Hiscock, Marine Biological Association
“I run a sport fishing business out of Lyme Regis and cannot understand how a huge resource like Lyme Bay which offers enormous recreational and environmental potential is allowed to be destroyed by a minority industry i.e. scallop dredging. I speak to divers, anglers, potters etc and without exception scalloping is destroying not only the environment but also livelihoods.”
Local Businessman
In response to the summary published by DEFRA in March 2008
"This level of professional and public support makes the minister’s decision easy. The scientific evidence clearly shows that a 60 sq mile exclusion zone is the only way to begin rebuilding our important marine biodiversity"
Paul Gompertz, Director of Devon Wildlife Trust
"This is an important step towards creating a properly managed marine environment. At the moment there is almost no protection for marine habitats – a situation which would be intolerable on land."
Joan Edwards, Head of Marine Policy, The Wildlife Trusts