SUSTAINABILITY

SANCTUARY
Feature
Maritime Environmental Protection
Guidance for Royal Navy operators at sea
EPG(M)
Group
Group 1
Group 2
Group 3
Group 4
Group 5
MPAs primarily designated
for the protection of:
Birds
General coastal features
Benthic seabed features
(with depths 20m)
Visual example of EPG(M) in PDF format © Crown
In recent years there has been an
unprecedented rise in the number of
Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) in UK,
European and international waters.
Correspondingly, this has increased the
challenge for the MOD to continue to
ensure that its military activities are
sufficiently mitigated within or adjacent
to designated MPAs. Of all the UK Front
Line military Commands, Navy
Command faces the biggest challenge
of operating compliantly throughout
the changing marine operational area.
Back in 2009, this initiated positive
action to assist ships’ staff to understand
and respond to these developments.
Together with the UK Statutory Nature
Conservation Bodies (SNCBs), the
United Kingdom Hydrographic Office
(UKHO) and with invaluable input from
a series of seconded members of staff,
Navy Command Headquarters (NCHQ)
established the Environmental
Protection Guidelines (Maritime)
(EPG(M)). This guidance aimed to
reduce the risk of Naval activities
causing inadvertent impacts to the
environment whilst maintaining a
Commanding Officer’s freedom of
manoeuvre within and in the vicinity of
designated MPAs. In doing so it also
reduced the risk to Royal Navy (RN)
operations of 3rd party legal challenge
on environmental grounds. In 2013
EPG(M) was sufficiently robust and
resourced that NCHQ and all the UK
SNCBs signed up to a Statement of
Intent which committed all parties to
ongoing collaboration to ensure that it
remained relevant and readily utilised.
EPG(M) remains the only tool available
for RN planners and operators to rapidly
identify designated MPAs and access
specific military guidance to mitigate
their activities. The continued
development of EPG(M) relies on close
external collaboration between NCHQ
staff, SNCBs and the UKHO. Regular up
to date Additional Military Layers (AML)
are produced for display and analysis
within a variety of RN systems including
the WECDIS (Warship Electronic Chart
Display and Information System).
Interactive PDFs are also generated
from this data for advanced shore
based planning activities.
There are many different types of MPAs
around the world with widely diverse
features being protected and differing
conservation objectives. Even within
the UK the current 281 MPAs have been
created under different legislation most
Vertical launch Seawolf © Crown
12
SANCTUARY 45 2016