Northern Ireland Marine Conservation Zones

The designation of Marine Conservation Zones (MCZs) safeguards vulnerable or unique marine species and habitats of national importance in the Northern Ireland inshore region based on an ecosystem approach. These MCZs fulfill the obligations on The Marine Act (Northern Ireland) 2013 (the "Act") to contribute to an ecologically coherent UK network of MPAs as well as wider biodiversity commitments at European and global level.

MCZ is a new type of Marine Protected Area (MPA), designated in the Northern Ireland Inshore Region to protect nationally important habitats, species and geological/geomorphological features, while fully taking into account any economic, cultural or social consequences of doing so.

The Act also allows the Department to make byelaws to protect MCZs from damage caused by unregulated activities such as anchoring, kite surfing, jet skiing etc. It is an offence to intentionally or recklessly destroy or damage a protected feature of an MCZ or to contravene a byelaw.

For detailed information see - https://www.daera-ni.gov.uk/articles/marine-conservation-zones

Simple

Alternate title

N.I. Marine Conservation Zones
Date (Creation)
2013-01-01T00:00:00
Date (Publication)
2013-01-01T00:00:00
Date (Revision)
2013-01-01T00:00:00
Citation identifier
PS.IE.EPA.PROT_NIMCZInshore
Purpose

This layer shows Marine Conservation Zone boundaries designated within the Northern Ireland Inshore Marine Area.
Status
Completed
Point of contact
Organisation name Individual name Electronic mail address Role

Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs

Main contact

daeradirect.armagh@daera-ni.gov.uk

Point of contact
Maintenance and update frequency
As needed

GemetInspireTheme

  • Protected sites

GEMET - Concepts, version 3.1

  • protection of animals

  • protection of species

  • protection of birds

  • wildlife protection

  • terrestrial ecosystem

  • biodiversity

  • ecological

  • habitat

  • ecology

  • animal species

  • wildlife sanctuary

Environmental Protection Agency

  • Marine conservation zones

ISO 3166

  • Northern Ireland
Use limitation

Data is for public use under Creative Commons CC-By 4.0
Access constraints
License
Other constraints

https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Spatial representation type
Vector
Denominator
50000
Language
English
Character set
UTF8
Topic category
  • Biota
N
S
E
W
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Begin date
1980-01-01T00:00:00
End date
2014-01-24T00:00:00

Vertical extent

Minimum value
0
Maximum value
1014

Vertical CS

No information provided.

Vertical datum

Reference system identifier
http://www.opengis.net/def/crs/EPSG/0/29902

EPSG Geodetic Parameter Dataset EPSG 2009-11-25

Distribution format
Name Version

ESRI Shapefile

10.x
Distributor contact
Organisation name Individual name Electronic mail address Role

Environmental Protection Agency

Informatics

gis@epa.ie

Publisher
OnLine resource
Protocol Linkage Name

image/png

 		http://gis.epa.ie/geoserver/EPA/wms?service=WMS&version=1.1.0&request=GetMap&layers=EPA:PROT_NIMCZINSHORE&styles=&bbox=307997.22020000033,315754.3662999999,365204.01070000045,460848.8892000001&width=330&height=768&srs=EPSG:29902&format=image%2Fpng

WMS GetMap
Hierarchy level
Dataset

Conformance result

Title

INSPIRE Data Specification on Protected sites
Alternate title

INSPIRE Data Specifications v3.2
Date (Publication)
2014-04-17
Explanation

The INSPIRE Directive or INSPIRE lays down a general framework for a Spatial Data Infrastructure (SDI) for the purposes of European Community environmental policies and policies or activities which may have an impact on the environment.

Pass
No

Conformance result

Title

COMMISSION REGULATION (EU) No 1089/2010 of 23 November 2010 implementing Directive 2007/2/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council as regards interoperability of spatial data sets and services

Alternate title

INSPIRE Interoperability Regulation
Date (Publication)
2010-12-08
Explanation

Level of conformance with the COMMISSION REGULATION (EU) No 1089/2010 of 23 November 2010 implementing Directive 2007/2/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council as regards interoperability of spatial data sets and services

Pass
No
Statement

The polygon that represents the boundary of Strangford Lough MCZ was originally the Marine Nature Reserve (MNR) boundary designated on 4th July 1995. However with the enactment of the Marine Act (Northern Ireland) 2013 all existing MRNs, designated under Article 20 of the Nature Conservation and Amenities Lands (Northern Ireland) Order, 1985, were to be treated as if it were a Marine Conservation Zone (MCZ) designated under Section 13. This means that on the 18th September 2013,Strangford Lough MNR was re-designated as an MCZ. The boundaries are identical. PPRathlin, Waterfoot, Outer Belfast Lough and Carlingford Lough MCZs were designated on the 12th December 2016. The boundaries are subject to change if new verified evidence comes to light regarding the location or extent of the MCZ features which can include including habitats, species and geological/geomorphological features.



For detailed lineage see the following - https://www.daera-ni.gov.uk/articles/marine-conservation-zones

Metadata

File identifier
cb65bc84-4c7f-4f6d-bf54-ccdedba0e925 XML
Metadata language
English
Character set
UTF8
Hierarchy level
Dataset
Date stamp
2023-08-21T14:53:23.493Z
Metadata standard name

ISDI Metadata Profile
Metadata standard version

1.2
Metadata author
Organisation name Individual name Electronic mail address Role

Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs

Main Contact

daeradirect.armagh@daera-ni.gov.uk

Author
 
 

Overviews

overview
thumbnail

Spatial extent

thumbnail

Keywords

Environmental Protection Agency

Marine conservation zones
GEMET - Concepts, version 3.1

animal species biodiversity ecological ecology habitat protection of animals protection of birds protection of species terrestrial ecosystem wildlife protection wildlife sanctuary
GemetInspireTheme

Protected sites


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