Facts and Figures

More than 22 million people live within 5 miles of the coast.

In England, 271 million recreational visits are made to coastal environments annually, and that the most common activity on these visits is walking. 

England has 4,422km of coastline, with Essex alone having a greater length of coast than the Netherlands. This is in part due to our unique and complex geodiversity, which provides the foundations of all coastal and marine, habitats and species. 

In England 85% of people say that protecting marine environment very important/ important. 

Similarly, 84% support the creation of Marine Protected Areas in England (49% ‘strongly support’) 

In England only 17% believe health of marine environment is very good/good. The top barriers for not visiting a marine environment are Distance (27%) Cost (18%) Weather (14%) Poor Health (14%) and, Being to busy (14%). 

For those who did visit, the personal benefits of visiting the coast / sea were powerful; good mental health (84%) and physical health (80%) were the most frequently reported outcomes from spending time in a marine environment.

It has been shown that spending time by the sea reported increased happiness, better general health and were more physically active during their visit, compared to visits to other types of environments.

When asked for the three most important benefits that society gains from the marine environment, the responses in England are; diverse habitats for marine plants and animals (50%), Food e.g. fish (38%), Renewable energy (30%), Weather and climate control (28%), Oxygen production, carbon storage and capture (27%). 

80% of all life on earth is in our seas, with scientists estimating up to 91% of marine species have yet to be classified. 

Our marine space is the largest source of power on earth, that can free us from fossil fuel reliance. Wave power alone could supply at least twice the global demand for electricity.  

There is clear evidence that warming seas, reduced oxygen, ocean acidification and sea-level rise are already affecting UK coasts and seas, with these effects highly likely to increase into the future. 

Together with seaweeds and seagrasses, marine phytoplankton draw in over 100 million tons of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere each day – also generating 50%-80% of Earths oxygen. 

Our seas keep us cool. Since 1955 it has absorbed over 90% of the excess heat trapped by greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Ocean currents regulate global climate systems, moderating otherwise extreme temperatures and keeping the land livable for plants and animals (such as humans!) 

Over the past 30 years in the Southern North Sea, sea surface temperatures have increased 0.45°C per decade. 

Apart from subtidal mud and subtidal sand, over 90% of the mapped coastal blue carbon habitats in England are situated within the Marine Protected Area (MPA) network. However, ‘blue carbon’ is not a feature of these sites and therefore are not protected/managed as such and risk damage.

In a recent review, Green et al. (2021) estimated a loss of at least 44% of United Kingdom’s seagrasses since 1936, and of this 39% has been lost since the 1980s. 

Even greater proportions of saltmarsh (85%) and littoral sediment have been lost through historic land claim for agriculture and ongoing coastal development, sea level rise and coastal erosion over the last 150 years. 

European flat oysters are believed to have declined by approximately 95% in British waters over the last century (Preston et al., 2020). 

In the 2019 UK Marine Strategy assessment, 11 of the 15 indicators used to determine the health of our seas failed to achieve Good Environmental Status 

80% of our estuarine and coastal waters are at less than good ecological status.  

English inshore waters contain 158 MPAs covering 51% of this region (26,126 km2). English offshore waters contain 42 MPAs covering 37% of this region (66,690 km2). Altogether, there are 181 MPAs covering 40% of English inshore and offshore waters combined (92,817 km2).  

Three candidate pilot HPMAs, two in offshore waters and one in inshore waters, were designated by Defra as HPMAs in June 2023. Offshore there is Dolphin Head HPMA and North East of Farnes Deep HPMA. Inshore there is Allonby Bay Highly Protected Marine Area (HPMA) which covers 27.6 km2 of the outer Solway Firth. 

Since 2016, sustainable fishing has been more profitable per tonne than unsustainable fishing. 

The latest estimates from the UK Bycatch Monitoring Programme show that up to 1,061 harbour porpoise, 278 common dolphins, and 488 seals were bycaught around the country in 2019 (no estimate for birds). 

Abrasion through benthic fishing, wind turbine foundation scour, and burial of power cables is by far the greatest impact on UK seabed habitats, with benthic fishing accounting for most of this.  

OSPAR assessment of benthic habitat impact from bottom towed gear on the Greater North Sea and Celtic Seas showed 86% of the assessed areas as physically disturbed and 58% assessed as highly disturbed.

UK fleet segments unprofitable without fuel subsidies assuming no changes in fuel use, engine efficiency or activity. Foregone government revenue via fisheries fuel subsidies ranged between £150–180 m. per year. 

Between 1986 and 2019, the number of the UK’s globally important breeding seabirds fell by almost a quarter.  

England’s seabirds are in trouble – in the most recent UK list of Birds of Conservation Concern, 10 species were listed red and 23 were listed amber. Six species are also globally threatened. 

Bycatch impacts hundreds of thousands of seabirds each year around the world; here up to 9,100 fulmars and 3,300 guillemots are estimated to be caught in UK fishing gear in our seas.

Every year across the UK around 17 million cubic metres (m3) of aggregates are extracted from the sea. Of this, approximately 68% was disposed offshore, with around 30% disposed of through local placement within the rivers and estuaries from which it was dredged, thereby retaining the sediment in the system. 

Only 0.4% of dredged material is used to directly support habitat restoration. 

Through the British Energy Security Strategy (BESS), the UK Government announced an ambition for 50GW of energy from offshore wind by 2030 (including 5 GW from floating turbines) – a fivefold operational increase within a decade. 

The Climate Change Committee (CCC) have recommended that 100-140GW must be operational by 2050.

The Environment Agency's Estuarine Coastal Monitoring and Assessment Service (ECMAS) has collated and created a set of three maps which identify locations around the English coastline that could be suitable for restoring saltmarsh, seagrass, or native oyster habitats. These maps include 3,037 potential active restoration sites which, together, cover 323,305 hectares (ha) or 1.3% of marine and coastal space in England. 

Low feasibility, high costs and resources required for available assisted recovery options, mean that these should only be considered where pressures have been removed. 

Lotze and others (2011) reviewed evidence for marine habitat recovery. They found that, in 95% of cases, recovery had occurred directly as a result of the reduction or removal of pressures (associated with human activities) that had led to the degradation of habitats or depletion of species.  

In England some of our best recent examples of marine nature recovery projects occur where there is strong societal buy in and public support (ReMEDIES21, Sussex Kelp, Project Seagrass).