MARINE INFORMATION NOTE

MIN 278 (M+F)

Marine Environmental High Risk Areas (MEHRAs)

Notice to all Shipowners, Masters and Officers of Merchants Vessels and Skippers of
Fishing Vessels

This MIN expires 30 April 2008

PLEASE NOTE:-
Where this document provides guidance on the law it should not be regarded as definitive.
The way the law applies to any particular case can vary according to circumstances - for
example, from vessel to vessel and you should consider seeking independent legal advice if
you are unsure of your own legal position.

Summary

• This Notice publicises the work undertaken to establish Marine Environmental High
Risk Areas (MEHRAs) in selected UK coastal waters as well as identifying the general
location of each MEHRA.

• MEHRAs are defined as areas having high environmental sensitivities and being at
risk from shipping activity. In due course they will be marked on Admiralty charts as an
encouragement to mariners to take extra care in those areas and for their existence to
be taken into account during passage planning.

• Any proposals for additional protective measures for each designated MEHRA will be
taken into account during a study into vessel traffic routeing requirements for UK
coastal waters being considered by the MCA as part of an initiative toward better
waterspace management.

• Guidance to mariners on navigation in the vicinity of a MEHRA will be circulated by the

MCA in a future Marine Guidance Note (MGN).

1. Introduction/ Background

1.1 This Notice outlines the work undertaken following Lord Donaldson’s recommendation,
in his report Safer Ships, Cleaner Seas1, that a comparatively limited number of areas
of high environmental sensitivity, which are also at risk from shipping, should be
identified and established around the UK coast.

1 Safer Ships, Cleaner Seas. London: HMSO, 1994. Cm 2560. ISBN 0-10-125602-7
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 Lord Donaldson referred to these areas as Marine Environmental High Risk Areas
(MEHRAs) and said that their primary purpose was to inform Shipmasters of areas
where there is a real prospect of a problem arising. Once identified, MEHRAs are to be
marked on Admiralty charts, as an encouragement to mariners to take extra care in
those areas. They are, essentially, an aid to passage planning.

1.2 This Notice also gives details of the general location of those areas identified as
MEHRAs.

1.3 In Safer Ships, Cleaner Seas, Lord Donaldson jointly charged the then Department of
the Environment and the Department of Transport with bringing forward proposals for
MEHRAs. In the ten years since the publication of the Donaldson report, much work
has been done by both Departments, their successors and the Joint Nature
Conservation Committee to develop the necessary methodology for identifying
MEHRAs. This has been undertaken in collaboration with other Departments and
Agencies across Government, as well as the Devolved Administrations, the country
agencies for nature conservation and others.

1.4 In his report, Lord Donaldson emphasised that MEHRAs should be seen as both an
environmental and a shipping concept and that even the most sensitive areas should
only become classified as MEHRAs if there is a realistic risk of pollution from merchant
shipping. He further considered that, in the interests of ensuring that the concept of
MEHRAs does not become devalued, the criteria should be set in such a way that not
more than about a tenth of the UK coastline qualifies. While Lord Donaldson offered
advice on the maritime and environmental criteria that could be considered in
identifying a MEHRA, he also recognised that his approach would need refinement.

1.5 Using Lord Donaldson’s definition of a MEHRA (an area identified as both having high
environmental sensitivity and being at risk from shipping activity) as a baseline, the
work that has gone into the identification of MEHRAs has broken new ground. The
methodology which has been developed for identifying and ranking MEHRAs is
innovative and embodies a high degree of objectivity.

1.6 For the purposes of identifying MEHRAs, the UK coast and proximate sea areas were
divided into a number of cells, typically of 10 square miles area, on a chart. Two
parallel exercises were then carried out:

a) One exercise identified the shipping risk to which each cell was subject, taking into
account ship routeing data, size and type of vessel, traffic density and analysis of
past accidents resulting in pollution from ships (such as collisions, groundings and
fires). A model was then created to combine this information and generate a
measure of the risk per cell, taking into account the potential for an oil spill to drift
from sea to shore;

b) The second exercise identified the environmental sensitivity of each cell, taking into
account a number of different criteria, predominantly of an ecological and scientific
nature. In particular, the sensitivity exercise took account of the statutory
designations which were in place in each cell, such as Special Areas of
Conservation (SACs), Special Protected Areas (SPAs) or Sites of Special Scientific
Interest (SSSIs). The environmental sensitivity of each cell was scored on the
basis of the number of such sites in each cell and their sensitivity to marine
pollution.

1.7 The two sets of data for each cell – shipping risk and environmental sensitivity – were
then brought together to produce an overall ranking. The cells which were eventually
identified as MEHRAs were those which manifested a combination of both high
sensitivity and a high level of shipping pollution risk.

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 They represent approximately 9% of the UK coastline, which is consistent with Lord
Donaldson’s view that not more than 10% of the UK coastline should qualify as
MEHRAs. The main emphasis for the exercise has been on coastal areas, since most
of the available data related to coastal, rather than "at sea" areas.

Protective Measures

1.8 During the process of identifying MEHRAs, it was recognised that a number of
particularly sensitive areas around the UK coastline already benefit from protective
measures. For example, there is an International Maritime Organization (IMO)
recommended deep water route to the West of the Hebrides for laden tankers over
10,000 gross tonnage which greatly reduces the volume of traffic through the Minches
and, consequently, the risks to the environment. As a result of general compliance with
these measures the overall scores that such areas attracted in the identification
exercise were much lower than those areas now recommended for designation as
MEHRAs. Consequently, the list of MEHRAs contains some results which were not
envisaged in Safer Ships, Cleaner Seas. In some cases, for example the Minches and
the Isles of Scilly, their environmental sensitivity is not in question. That sensitivity is
already acknowledged through existing protective measures that reduce the risks to
such an extent that all the qualifying criteria for MEHRA status are not met.

1.9 Since Lord Donaldson introduced the concept of MEHRAs, a number of general
protective measures have also been introduced around the UK coast, such as
improvements in the provision of Emergency Towing Vessels, and the mandatory
reporting system for tankers carrying heavy grades of oil into the newly designated
Western European Particularly Sensitive Sea Area (PSSA). In addition, work on vessel
routeing and traffic management measures has progressed to take account of wider
developments in UK policy on the sustainable use of the marine environment, such as
the growth in offshore renewable energy, the Government's commitment to introducing
a Marine Bill, developments in thinking on marine spatial planning and advances in e-
navigation technology. The introduction of additional protective measures for MEHRAs
has to be considered as part of these wider, inter-linked developments.

1.10 The Department for Transport (DfT) and the Maritime and Coastguard Agency (MCA)
have an ongoing programme of maritime vessel traffic surveys around the UK coast. A
list of recent maritime vessel traffic surveys, which have informed the decisions on the
establishment of MEHRAs to a certain degree appears below:

• Duncansby Head (2003)

• East Coast traffic Routeing (2004)
• Farne Islands (2002)
• Firth of Forth (2003)
• Flamborough Head (2003)
• Grasholm, Skokholm and Skomer (2003)
• Harwich Haven (2003)
• Islay (2002)
• Isle of May and Bass Rock (2002)
• Isles of Scilly (2002)
• Kinnaird Head (2002)
• Lyme Bay (2004)
• Newburgh (Ythan Estuary) (2002)
• Poole (2002)
• Rattray Head (2003)
• St Abbs Head (2003)
• The Hebrides and St Kilda (2004)
• The Minches (2004)

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1.11 Maritime traffic surveys may either validate the efficacy and adequacy of existing
arrangements or, alternatively, suggest the need for additional measures.

1.12 For example, during 2004, a vessel traffic survey was carried out in the Minches and
the Deep Water Route. As a result, the UK proposed new routeing measures for the
Minches to the IMO's Sub-Committee on Safety of Navigation in July 2006, which were
subsequently approved by the IMO Maritime Safety Committee for implementation on
31st July 2007.

1.13 The conclusions reached from the surveys listed can also be viewed on the MCA
website, and copies of the full reports can be obtained from the MCA Maritime Projects
Branch from the address given at the end of this notice.

1.14 All work on possible future protective measures will be taken forward by the
Government Departments and Agencies concerned, working closely with the Devolved
Administrations and other stakeholders. The MEHRAs concept will be a useful
indicator in developing thinking on all these issues.

Location of MEHRAS

1.15 As the culmination of this process, the UK Government has identified 32 MEHRAs:

• Bass Rock
• Berry Head
• Berwick
• Dunbar
• Dungeness
• Farne Islands
• Fethaland, Mainland Shetland
• Flamborough Head
• Gallan Head, Isle of Lewis
• Harwich & Felixstowe (2 MEHRAs)
• Hastings
• Holy Island
• Islandmagee, County Antrim
• Isle of May
• Kinnaird Head
• Muckle Flugga
• Newburgh
• North St Kilda
• Pembrokeshire Islands
• Plymouth Dungeness
• Portland
• St Abb’s Head & Eyemouth
• South Foreland to Ramsgate (2 MEHRA)
• South St Kilda
• Spurn Bight Hastings
• Tees Holy Island
• Tor Ness, Hoy
• Western Solent
• West Islay, Argyll and Bute (2 MEHRAs)

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1.16 The shipping industry will be made aware of the location of MEHRAs by means of
markings on UK Hydrographic Office charts and through Marine Guidance Notices
issued, in due course, by the MCA. The Government expects mariners to take note of
MEHRAs and either to keep well clear or, where this is not practicable, to exercise an
even higher degree of care than usual when passing through a MEHRA.

1.17 The protective measures already in place, together with any proposals for additional
protective measures for each of the MEHRAs, are set out in the full report. Any such
proposals will be taken into account during a study of traffic routeing requirements for
UK coastal waters being considered by the MCA, as part of an initiative towards better
waterspace management.

1.18 Electronic copies of the full report entitled “Establishment of Marine Environmental High
Risk Areas (MEHRAs)” can be downloaded free of charge at the DfT website at
www.dft.gsi.gov.uk

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More Information

Copies of the vessel traffic survey reports may be obtained from:

Maritime Projects Branch

Maritime and Coastguard Agency
Spring Place
105 Commercial Road
Southampton
SO15 1EG

Tel: +44 (0) 23 8032 9299

Fax: +44 (0) 23 8032 9447
e-mail: maritime.projects@mcga.gov.uk

Navigation Safety Branch

Maritime and Coastguard Agency
Bay 2/29
Spring Place
105 Commercial Road
Southampton
SO15 1EG

Tel : +44 (0) 23 8032 9523

Fax : +44 (0) 23 8032 9204
e-mail: Navigationsafety@mcga.gov.uk

General Inquiries: 24 Hour Infoline

infoline@mcga.gov.uk
0870 600 6505

MCA Website Address: www.mcga.gov.uk

File Ref: MNA 139/09/05

Published: February 2007

© Crown Copyright 2007

Safer Lives, Safer Ships, Cleaner Seas

Printed on material containing minimum 75% post-consumer waste paper

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