The waters around Lundy Island, aka 'Britain's Galapagos', became England's first marine conservation zone yesterday as the government project to create a network of protected areas in the seas began.
Lundy, a popular English sea kayaking destination, lies 10 miles off the coast of north Devon where the Atlantic meets the Bristol channel (click on the link above for podcast by Simon Willis).
The creation of the marine conservation zone (MCZ) around the island under the Marine Act is effectively just a name change for the site, which has been a marine nature reserve for more than 20 years.
But over the next two years, plans for a network of protected zones will be drawn up around English, Welsh and Northern Irish waters under the Marine and Coastal Access Act, which was passed last year.