The Science Advisory Panel is an independent body of expert marine scientists, which was established to support the four regional projects in selecting MCZs. It offered objective scientific assessment of site proposals and independent advice to Ministers. Panel members were drawn from a diverse range of marine scientific disciplines to ensure a balanced and comprehensive skill set.

You can find out more about the Panel in our factsheet (PDF).

To see meeting papers and their advice to the regional projects at each reporting stage, contact: mcz@defra.gsi.gov.uk

Publication of formal advice to Government

The regional Projects published their final recommendations on 8 September 2011. The Panel met in mid-September to discuss the recommendations and sent their formal advice to Government on 30 October 2011.

The formal advice concludes that together, the recommended sites would contribute to an ecologically coherent network of marine protected areas, but there is still some work recommended to strengthen the network.

On sending the formal advice to Government, Dr Peter Ryder, Chairman of the Science Advisory Panel, said:

A huge amount of skilful, constructive work has gone into preparing the Regional Project Final Recommendations and we express our huge admiration for the efforts of all concerned. We are content that, if the recommended network of MCZs is implemented in full, ecological coherence can be achieved. However, deficiencies and uncertainties exist that carry risks and these need to be addressed before the Final Recommendations go out to Consultation.

The formal advice is available online:

• Part A : Assessment of Regional Project Recommendations 
• Part B: Evidence Assessment
• Annex 1: Individual site scores