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The Marine Conservation Society (MCS) is urgently calling for the Marine Bill, published yesterday in draft, to be toughened up with measures and powers to establish a network of highly protected marine reserves where marine life is fully protected from damaging activities.

MCS with British Sub-Aqua Club divers and UK aquaria representatives, many from C rnwall marched to the House of Commons to deliver 100,000 MARINE RESERVES NOW! petition signatures calling for government to commit to a network of Highly Protected Marine Reserves through the Marine Bill.

Over 100,000 people, from Falmouth to Newcastle had signed the petition over the past year to urge Government to set up a network of marine reserves, of which 28,275 signatures were collected from southwest aquaria.

The southwest includes probably the richest variety of marine wildlife for the entire UK, with Mediterranean and cold currents influencing the wide variety of individual species found in our waters. Yet the level of protection in all but one site of the region allows some form of fishing activity.

The only site that is fully protected from all fishing and damage lies at Lundy Island, and is only 3.3km2 - 0.00195 of UK's inshore waters. This site has shown an astonishing 6-fold increase in lobster numbers in four short years since the marine reserve was first set up. Over 124 scientific studies from around the world have shown that marine reserves result in an average weight increase of 446% of wildlife from previously exploited areas, whilst the density of animals and plants increased by an average of 166%.

The draft Marine Bill heralds a new approach to managing our seas and protecting marine life including measures for marine planning, inshore fisheries reform, and protection of marine species and habitats. But, MCS, BSAC and other organisations are concerned that the Bill in its current form does not make a strong enough commitment to the establishment of an effective network of Highly Protected Marine Reserves, or provide the necessary powers for the relevant bodies to prohibit damaging activities, rather than just restrict or manage them.

Dr Jean-Luc Solandt, MCS Biodiversity Policy Officer said: "The piece-meal management of existing so-called protected areas' such as Special Areas of Conservation does not adequately protect our valuable marine wildlife. Some of these sites allow practices such as scallop dredging, beam trawling, gillnetting and dredging to damage our marine environment" said Dr Jean-Luc Solandt, MCS Biodiversity Policy Officer, "We fear the proposals set out in the draft Bill will only repeat the errors of the past, with Government allowing short-term commercial interests to compromise much-needed long-term protection and sustainability. The support from this campaign from the southwest region from Newquay to Bournemouth shows that people want a network of marine reserves. We need to start establishing sites some sites in areas like the Manacles, Hand's Deep, Warbaroow Trout, and Eddystone reef."

BSAC chairman, Marcus Allen said: "Every day thousands of British divers enter the sea knowing that there is currently only one tiny marine reserve where marine wildlife is left in a natural state. This isn't enough; we are demanding that the government introduce a comprehensive network of sites purely for nature conservation reasons, where nothing is taken, and no damage is done."

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