Lyme Bay scallop dredging banned

- Emma Eversham

Scallop dredging in Dorset’s Lyme Bay has been banned by MPs in a bid to safeguard the future of the area’s marine life.

The ruling today closes off 60 square miles of the sea from West Bay to Beer Head to scallop dredgers and bottom trawlers – practices that marine conservationists say threaten sea life.

Lyme Bay scallops are a regular feature on menus at restaurants in the South West and elsewhere in the UK and are popular among customers – supermarket scallop sales rocketed when Gordon Ramsay put them on the menu for his live TV cook-along – but the ban will mean only those that have been caught through diving or using fishing nets, static nets and lines nearer the surface will be available to buy in the future.

Environment Secretary Hilary Benn said: “Lyme Bay is one of Britain’s richest marine environments, and the measures we have announced today will protect the reefs and the wildlife that depends on them from the most damaging fishing methods.

"The environmental benefits will be huge, and species under threat will be able to recover and thrive.”